The Mind Dweller
by Adrian King1
Summary: Stories were told about the Dantalion in times of war, stories that made the bravest of men cower. No one stood in the way of Sinnstein Dantalion and lived. Not even his murderer had. And I would live up to my clan's legacy. I would live up to my father's legacy. Because I was Verstand Dantalion.
1. The End is where I Begin

**Hey guys!**

Yes, I am starting a new series! Another Side is pretty much done, I just need to write the epilogue. So, here is the one that shall take its place into my projects.

Don't you worry possible Another Side fan, the next volume of that series will come out someday. I just need to take some time off that series.

Anyway, for those that remember, yes, this is **Project 71**. I hope you like it.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Highschool DxD.

**The End is where I Begin**

I stood in front of my grandfather's grave.

I was the last one.

Everybody was gone.

The war had taken a hit on many families. Half the Ars Goetia had gone extinct and the other half didn't have many family members to speak of. The only thing that made Devils be a thing were the Extra Demons Faction and Ajuka Beelzebub's Evil Pieces.

But my family was gone.

After the Original Satans died the people didn't want to fight the war anymore. But the families of the Old Satans still held power. We Devils divided ourselves. The Old Satan faction wanted to continue the war. The Anti-Satan Faction wanted to stop it. And that's why my parents died.

My parents had been killed for supporting a system that permitted us Devils to continue existing. They weren't around anymore because they supported a group that was indeed powerful enough to stop Heaven and Grigori from finishing us off. They were murdered because they were from the Anti-Satan Faction. Dead before I could even remember them.

They had showered my grandfather and I in praises when we won the civil war. I couldn't even remember that, but grandfather used to tell me that story. The story of how my parents became heroes. But now they weren't here. No one from the Anti-Satan Faction was here to pay their respects.

In a way, it was better like that. More personal. Lucifer and Beelzebub would probably visit sometime that week. Asmodeus was too lazy to bother, his personality was like that. Leviathan was too cheery to make an appearance at a funeral or the week after. I would meet her soon enough and she would probably act as if nothing happened.

I didn't resent them. I couldn't and wouldn't. That would insult the memory of what my family had stood by until the very end. And I couldn't do that, I wouldn't be able to live with myself after that.

Furthermore, I couldn't resent them. They had too much to work on. The civil war had lasted far too long. There were even talks that it was still going in a cold war style this time.

Rumors of the Old Satan Faction working in the shadows, gathering allies and scheming in a corner far away from the society that rejected them. Those weren't wonderful news to say the least.

There was also the fact that the Ars Goetia's side of the Anti-Satan Faction was just trying to save their hides while getting themselves up in the food chain. It was disgusting. A lot of people, not just my family, had died trying to ensure the survival of the Devils as a species and they were worried about if they got to have power or not.

I pitied the new Satans. They had to deal with that scum daily. It couldn't be easy. I couldn't resent them for not being present for my grandfather's funeral. So, I stood there, alone, for the rest of the day until darkness started to creep up to me.

I turned around. The only thing that was left of the Dantalion clan was just a manor and the vastness of an empty forest. A lake hidden somewhere between the never-ending sea of trees. I used to go there with my grandfather. It had a great view, to be sure, but it was mostly because of the peace that permeated the place.

It helped us forget that we were alone. Forget all the problems that surrounded us. I would probably visit that place after I was sure nobody would come to visit and give their condolences. My list was short. If the Satans had visited, the others were not important.

Anyone else that visited would probably be a bunch of stuck up nobles trying to marry me to their daughters to feed off the good name of House Dantalion. If not, they would be people that had ignored me my whole life and only wanted to manipulate the 'innocent and desperate' last son of the Dantalion's to get what they wanted.

I reached the door and I froze. I had known. Both of us had known there wasn't much time left. He had been bedridden for the last few months. His time was coming to an end. We knew. But that didn't make it hurt any less. The last member of my family was gone.

I fought back tears and opened the door. The lights were on, but they didn't stop the place from looking dark. I doubted it would hold the same light ever again for me. I wasn't alone, I had to tell myself.

'_They'll come soon.'_ I thought. That was the only thing that stopped me from going to my room and crying myself to sleep.

I walked into the house and started preparing tea out of habit. My grandfather loved to have tea when he was distraught, and it had rubbed off on me. It always helped me calm down and think properly.

When I turned around to go to the sitting room with my cup, I saw a teleporting circle light up the room.

"Big brother, welcome. You came sooner than I thought." I greeted a man with light blue eyes and green hair that was slicked back. Ajuka Astaroth, now known as Lord Beelzebub. He always insisted in me calling him 'big brother' until I gave in.

"Sorry I am late, Verz." He said.

"You have nothing to be sorry about. I know how things are. Please, take a seat. Tea?" I asked. He nodded and I went to prepare another cup before going back to the sitting room.

"I would ask how you are but we both know the answer." He said simply. I almost snorted, he never was one for formalities. None of the new Satans was. "What are you going to do?"

I looked at the cup in my hands. My mind had refused to address that question up until that very moment. I would probably leave home. It would hurt, but it was better than staying. The manor would drive me mad before I knew it between a combination of memories and solitude.

"I'll leave. Probably stay in one of the cities for a while. Maybe go to the human world like the other heirs." I had more reasons than the others to go to the human world.

I wouldn't be able to feed off my family fortune forever. I wasn't poor. I could live comfortably for years. But years for a Devil was nothing. I would need to start working and soon. I also needed to start recruiting for my peerage. Grandfather had gotten me to delay that until now. He didn't want me to recruit without knowing, to make a bad choice.

However, now was the time to start making choices. I couldn't sit still now, or I would end up with nothing. I would probably kill myself if I had to sell the manor. It was the only thing left from my family, my clan.

So, I needed to get my act together and start acting like the high-class Devil I was. I had no idea who or even how I was going to recruit, but I needed to start somewhere. I would be able to make money for myself more than easily enough, but I would also need people to rely on. My grandfather had drilled that into my head. One lives for a group and the group lives for one. We are the people that we surround ourselves with.

"That's probably the best decision." Commented Ajuka. "You will take them now?"

"I'll need them." I answered. He flicked his fingers and a box appeared in the coffee table. A black box with silver details stood before me with a diamond shape sticking out on the top. A king piece carved inside the diamond. The box that contained my Evil Pieces.

I slowly placed my hands on each side of the box, and I felt it sucking my magic. Linking the pieces inside to me. The silver details shining with an amber colored light. It leeched off my energy for a minute until it stopped slowly. I let go of the box and left my hands on either side.

Ajuka didn't comment, it was normal. The Pieces were meaningful, they were almost as much part of a Devil as their arms or legs. They would be with the Devil for the rest of their lives. And the devils felt that connection once it was done, they couldn't help but be in awe with it. I certainly couldn't.

After a few seconds I came out of my stupor and slowly lifted the top of the box. Inside there were fifteen chess pieces, from Queen to the very last Pawn. All of them of a semitransparent amber with a bit of darker colors bordering black here and there. All except for… two of them. I actually laughed out loud.

I had two mutated Knights.

"Amusing, indeed, but also quite impressive." Ajuka commented. "It can be due to how long it took you to actually claim them. You start later but you are also a lot stronger than when you should have received them. Interesting." Ajuka almost went all mad scientist on me right there. I was thankful he got a hold of himself.

"Well," I let out a tired sigh. "Once Sirzechs comes to visit I'll start looking for a place to stay in a city. Probably Agreas or Lilith." I commented absentmindedly.

"I'm sure Serafall will love to hear that. She will probably run around looking for the best place for you." I suppressed a snort at that. Serafall would never come to the pay respects but I was quite sure she would love to help any other way and visit once I was there.

"Yeah, she probably will." I commented. For all the good humor, nothing really reached my eyes. The sympathetic look Ajuka gave me told me he noticed.

"Sirzechs said he will come tonight or tomorrow morning, He just has to get rid of some… trouble." Trouble meaning an idiotic power-hungry nobleman or woman.

"It's ok, I expected you guys to come sometime this week. I didn't really expect you _today_. And don't give me that look, you know I know you guys are busy." I added when he gave me a mock hurt expression.

"Are you sure you want to move to the city? You could stay with the Gremories or the Sitris. They wouldn't have a problem with your presence at all." He said.

"I'm sure, at this point I'm used to being by myself." I had already spent the last few months taking care of my bedridden grandfather on my own. I was pretty independent already. "But I'll make sure to visit from time to time."

"That would be great. They will worry if you suddenly disappear." He said. And he meant it, the last time grandfather and I had forgotten to call or send a letter they had metaphorically and almost literally kicked down our door to see if something had happened.

"I know. I wish they could have come." I said looking down. I had forgotten to close the box, I noticed putting the top back on.

"Phenex has been a torn in the side of House Gremory for a long time now." He commented nodding somberly. "And the Sitris are still fending off contracts from everyone that dares to try and pressure them into one. There are rumors that they are trying to establish an 'impossible' requirement or something of the sort."

"If they establish that whoever inside an age range that wins a chess match against Sona gets to marry her then she will be single for a long long time." I commented with a small smirk.

"I bet it will be something like that. Seekvaira and Sona are smart beyond their peers. You are not that far behind though." I just shrugged leaving my empty cup of tea on the table besides the box and leaning back on the couch.

"It is still difficult to believe." I said, barely whispering.

"Give it time, Verz. Just remember that we are here. If you need us just call." He said.

"I know, thanks. You don't know how much that means right now." I said, giving him a grateful smile.

"Well, you could thank me with a game of chess…" He left it hanging and I chuckled, with true mirth in it if just a little bit.

"You just want to beat me and at a time like this. What kind of big brother are you?" I said with a mock hurt expression. But I stood up and looked for a board.

We spent a couple of ours like that. Spending time together. It had probably been weeks since we had seen each other. Even more since we had played chess together. It reminded me of the good times. Good times that were no more, not with my grandfather at least.

"Sorry for being late." A voice interrupted a movement of Ajuka's that would probably cost me a knight or a rook.

"Sirz, welcome! Just in time to see me lose, _again_!" I greeted and commented with a mock annoyed expression. He and Ajuka laughed at me before he shook my hand.

"So, get me up to speed. How many times have you lost already?" Asked the crimson-haired Satan.

"Satan knows how many times." I pointed at Ajuka. "Literally." That got another chuckle out of them. It was good to have my big brothers here. I would have been crying my eyes out if not for them. "You may want to see this though." I said and pulled out the Evil Pieces. Sirzechs leaned forward in interest. When I opened the box, he let out whistle.

"Two mutated Knights. That's good, and bad, depending how you see it. It will be difficult to find someone that is worth that, not to mention two times." He commented. I nodded and hummed.

"I know, but what can I do, it's what got. I'm certainly not going to complain." I said going back to playing against Ajuka. "I'll move to Lilith or Agreas sometime next week." I informed him and then the scientist Satan and I proceeded to tell him a summary of what we had been talking about.

"Well, Ajuka told you but I will as well. If you need anything just call." He told me and I gave him a grateful nod before groaning as Ajuka beat me _again_.

"Well, Verz. I think it's time for us to go. I don't want to humiliate you anymore." Ajuka said.

"Yeah, like I would believe that." I said mock glaring. They chuckled. "Thanks for coming." I said with a small smile.

"Always kid, always." Sirzechs said and his Satan comrade nodded.

"Get some sleep, Verstand." Ajuka said with a brotherly tone.

"I will." I reassured them. "See you." They waved at me and I closed the door.

Turning around I felt as alone as the first time I had entered the manor before the visits. But there was a spark of warmth that wasn't present before. A spark that would help me get the sleep that otherwise would have only came after hours of crying. I could never be more grateful to my big brother figures. And I was betting my sister figure would make my stay in the city once I was there as comfortable as possible.

Some would have thought it was strange or scary to be on sibling terms with three of the four Satans. Not for me. They had been part of my life for as long as I remembered. They had been the only ones to never forget the sacrifice of my parents. And each of them made sure to remind me that. My parents had been heroes of the Anti-Satan Factions, and the new Satans made it their personal mission that I knew their sacrifice was not in vain.

They had been there all my life and I hoped they would continue to be for as long as I lived, which was a lot coming from a Devil. They had been there when I needed them. I was forever in their debt for that. They were my family, now more than ever.

**[}-o-{]**

"Do you like it Ver-tan?" The usual cheery voice of my sister figure asked.

"I love it, Sera-tan." I answered with a small smile.

The apartment she had gotten me in Lilith was really nice. There was enough space for me to be comfortable but not so much that I would feel lonely. She had also looked for one with three bedrooms, no doubt she was going to crash at my place on those rare occasions where she would not obsess over her sister. And in case someone else came, which could be Ajuka or Sirzechs.

I couldn't prevent a warm feeling from setting in my chest just by the thought that they were considering staying over here. I had no doubt they had talked about it between themselves. I wasn't completely alone.

"What are you going to do over here in the city Ver-tan?" Asked the magical girl Satan from the couch.

"Don't know, I just didn't want to stay in the manor." I sat beside her. "But I guess I'll walk around and see what catches my eye. I would say go looking for peerage members, but I guess those won't come from me walking around and asking." I joked. She giggled and hit my arm.

"No, that's not how it works." She said. And then her face turned serious, or as serious as a person like her could get. "Are you ok?"

"I'm ok, sis." I said softly. "Well, mostly, it'll take time." I corrected when she looked at me questioningly. Then she nodded.

"Then-"

"If I need something I'll call." I finished for her. She pouted.

"I-I was going to say that you could join my show anytime."

"Sure you were." Her pout intensified.

"Ver-tan is a meanie." I replied by hugging her.

"Thanks, Sera-tan." I said and she returned the hug.

"Anytime, little bro."

"Awwww." We turned to see Sirzechs with a camera on hand. I smiled for the photo. A second later, Serafall squealed so loud she almost got me deaf right then and there.

"Please tell me we look adorable." She all but demanded.

"Quite." Sirzechs smirked. And I chuckled.

"I guess I'll add that one here somewhere." Serafall sobered up after my comment.

"So, you _do _plan to stay here for quite a while." I smiled sadly at her comment.

"Yeah… I'll probably stay here until I get some peerage members. And even then, I probably won't go back to the manor." I hated and at the same time feared the view I had gotten of the empty manor. I never wanted to see that. I would make sure that the next time I went there it would have some life. There was silence for a second.

"Then call me if you need to move somewhere else, Levia-tan will come to the rescue." Serafall said striking a pose.

"Thanks, I knew I could count with the help of my favorite magical girl." She positively beamed at me. I couldn't help but smile at that. She was as adorable as a child sometimes… most of the time.

"Did I miss something?" Ajuka broke the moment appearing from the circle in the corner.

"Look at this Ajuka." Sirzechs told him excitedly while showing him the photo. Sometimes I couldn't help but be a bit shocked that this were the leaders of the Underworld. The Devil part of it at least. No matter how long you knew them, the pictures clashed so badly that it shocked anyway.

"I should start training, shouldn't I?" I asked during my first dinner in the city.

"Haven't you been doing that?" Asked Sirzechs confused.

"I mean, more seriously. I have been training, yes, but I never really pushed myself." I explained.

"Does Ver-tan finally want to participate in my show?" Serafall asked with stars in her eyes and I chuckled.

"Maybe sometime in the future, Sera-tan." I answered. She deflated a bit. "I just think… I want to do well in the Young Devil Gathering in a few years. And if what you have been telling me about Sairaorg is true, Sirz…" I trailed of moving my fork in the air.

"I see…" Started Ajuka. "You don't want to give a bad impression." He guessed.

"Yeah, that…" I trailed of, unsure. "And I have a goal, I'll need strength to achieve it."

"What is it? What is it?!" Asked the magical girl with renewed excitement.

"Secret." I smirked at her pout.

"Ver-tan is no fun."

"Well, in that case it seems you'll have to. Do you need help with that?" Asked Sirzechs.

"Not really. I just need somewhere to train. I don't have the space here." I explained to them.

"I see. I'll arrange you a space for training. An early birthday gift from me." Ajuka told me with a smile that I gladly returned.

"Ajuka is showing off. What will we do Serafall?" Asked Sirzechs with a mock worried tone.

"I helped him get this apartment, so I already gave him an early gift!" She said happily much to the crimson-haired Satan's dismay. Sirzechs slumped in defeat.

"I was left behind." He said in a depressed tone drawing circles on the table. I was trying pretty hard not to laugh.

"I would like to start training as a swordsman." I added, he perked up, probably guessing where I was going. "I don't know if you guys know someone that can teach me." I asked in a vague way. Ajuka's smirk and Serafall's smile told me they had caught on where I was going.

"I can see if Souji is free to train you!" Sirzechs shouted putting up a hand like a kid in school answering a question.

"Thanks, big bro, that would be great." I told him with a smile that he returned.

Not long after that everyone had to leave. I was lonely once they left, I'll admit. But that was nothing compared with the manor. I shivered just at the mere thought of those empty walls. Just walking around brought out ghosts of memories. Memories that while precious, right that moment felt like knives twisting and turning while stabbing my heart.

I was definitely better here. It was an almost unknown place, yes. But as such it didn't have memories, I didn't remember better times at each step I took. I could build new memories here. And that was exactly my plan.

Not to forget, just to move forward.

I went to the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. Skin so pale it was almost perfectly white that contrasted a lot with my black hair. Amber eyes much like those of a hawk stared back at me. I focused on my eyes, those eyes that seemed to look into your soul. They could, in a way.

Because that was the trait of the Dantalion clan. The Mind Arts. Most could read surface thoughts. Some could even stop the thoughts, literally stunning the opponent. Others could communicate telepathically. A minority could actually read minds as if they were books, looking for the information they wanted. There were also those twisted souls that could _break_ people's minds. Or the sly ones, that could manipulate people's minds to a degree.

The mind was our territory. And everything started with amber eyes. Amber eyes staring at you, and at that moment they already had you dancing in their hands. Stories were told about the Dantalion in times of war, stories that made the bravest of men cower. No one stood in the way of Sinnstein Dantalion and lived. Not even his murderer had.

And I would live up to my clan's legacy. I would live up to my father's legacy. Because I was Verstand Dantalion. The last one alive.

The world would know my name.

**[} Chapter End {]**

Well, I would greet you, but I already did that at the start. I hope you like this new project I'm starting here. Leave a review if you do, or don't, or want to tell me something, or want to complain about something, or… you already get it.

**FUN FACT:** I decided the Mutated Pieces by luck. First to know which piece it would be and second to know how many.

**See you.**


	2. Life Goes On

**Thanks to Rain Sennin, ****xiaomaome101 ****, GGPD, HeyRawj and faithful despair for the reviews.**

**An especially big THANKS to PixelatedWriter342, Ragnas Bredvolts, Rigald02 and OnetimeMuffin for reading and reviewing every piece of shit I post. I don't know how you put up with me guys, but you are awesome!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool** DxD.

**Life Goes On**

I just want to say, Souji Okita is a hell of a taskmaster. After our first training session I was dead on my feet, almost literally. The first time I teleported back from the training ground Ajuka had made for me on the Dimensional Gap I fell to the floor and slept there.

I will admit though, having Satans as siblings was amazing.

I had been training as a swordsman for a month now. Souji had driven me to the ground and then some more. He was not some crazy guy that made me fight against him and beat the living daylights out of me though. He just told me to do something and do it until I had it mastered. Then he moved to something else. But he never stopped, and so neither did I.

We did have _spars_. Which was a nice way of saying dodging practice. Which was a nice way of saying I was dodging his attacks like my life depended on it, and I truly thought it did depend on it. I wasn't brave or stupid enough to try and _block_ one of his blows after the first try. His strikes were… powerful is nowhere near a strong enough a word to use for it but it will suffice this time.

Besides my daily physical suffering, I had magical training which I did by myself in the mornings. My trait was not magically dependent, at least not so much yet, so I trained mostly to increase my reserves. I hadn't put the time to train actual magic, but I probably would in the future. That Assault magical affinity wouldn't go to waste. As of now though, I wanted to improve my swordsmanship and my clan trait.

Talking about my trait, that was a training that I truly enjoyed. I just went out for a walk and looked into people's surface thoughts. Now, most people would call it invading their privacy… which it was, in a way.

However, my grandfather and I had made sure of one thing while I grew up. I had studied a lot of body language to be able to tell or guess in some cases, when someone was having 'private' thoughts so that I wouldn't intrude. Obviously, it wasn't a perfect method, but I needed to train, so it was enough for me.

I would do this after meditation in the mornings and after my sword training if I was able to walk. It was a great way to clear my head of my own thoughts, which was… useful at that time.

Meanwhile, Serafall and Sirzechs had visited once each. Ajuka had managed to visit twice. None at the same time though. And I think it was intentional on their part because they wanted to make sure I had company the longest time possible. They were considerate like that.

What little time I had I spent it studying the human world. Sooner or later I would have to go there to start earning money. I was too young to get a job in the Underworld, at least one that really paid. It was a boon that my grandfather had taught me everything he knew because I couldn't fathom the idea of going to school, much less in the human world. It sent shivers down my spine. The bad thing was that it was a great way of keeping an eye out for Sacred Gear users for one's peerage.

And talking about peerage members… I still had no idea where to begin with my 'recruitment'. That had me a little worried because in just five years I would have to attend to the Young Devil Gathering and prove myself to the world.

It would be humiliating to go there as a nineteen-year-old and not have a peerage. I _could_ probably get some help from my 'siblings' but they had done enough. I didn't want to become a leech. I would build my power by myself. Some advice here and there wouldn't hurt but building my peerage was something that _I_ had to do.

I decided that with several years until the meeting I would focus on my training for now. Especially because the less I thought for the moment the better. My head was still a mess. I still woke up every day expecting to be in the manor and to have to take care of my grandfather. I could feel a cold hand clutching my heart each time I stopped to think about the past. About what I had lost.

Another thing I had come up with to get my mind off things was to visit my 'family'. Which was basically the Gremory and the Sitri families. I would include the Astaroth family but… they didn't inspire any type of good feeling during any of my meetings with them. I had the suspicion that Ajuka also tried to stay away from them. Which would explain why he could visit more than Serafall and Sirzechs.

Another reason for visiting them, not that I needed reasons mind you, was that Rias and Sona had already started to recruit for their peerages so they could tell me how they had come upon their members. That should help get over the pity party that was sure to come as soon as I put a foot on their homes.

**[}-o-{]**

"Good morning. What can I do for you?" Asked a beautiful girl with long black hair and violet eyes. That was strange, Sirzechs must have had Grayfia occupied with his nonsense.

"Good morning, could you tell Rias that Sirzechs's brother came for a visit?" I asked trying to hide a mischievous smile. Her eyes widened and she closed the door. I heard noises of foots running and then everything went quite for a minute. After that I heard someone running again and before I knew it, I was being hugged to death by a crimson-haired beauty. "Hey Rias, long time no see." I said patting her back.

"Verz! You didn't tell us you would come!" She admonished but was incapable of keep the smile of her face.

"Surprise?" I said lamely. She hugged me again. "Not going to introduce me to your new friend?" Poor raven-haired girl was standing on the side with a shocked expression. I couldn't fault her. Rias was not that affectionate with just anyone.

"Right!" She said as if she had forgotten there were others present. She probably had. "Verz, this is Akeno Himejima, my Queen." I nodded at the girl. "Akeno, this is Verstand Dantalion but he could be called an honorary Gremory." She joked and Akeno nodded her greeting at me.

"So, did I interrupt something?" I asked. Her mood dropped a bit.

"Yeah, well… We were dealing with someone Onii-sama brought up recently." Rias was what people would call an Otaku, she had taken to speaking in Japanese honorifics a while ago and never stopped apparently. It had been a long time since I had last seen her, with my grandfather sickness and all that, I thought she would have stopped by then.

"Maybe I can help?" I asked. She looked unsure but nodded all the same.

"Maybe… She is over here, follow me." I followed the crimson-headed girl to a room where a little girl with white hair was sitting on a couch. Her expression was impassive. I tried to read her without my trait, but I came out blank. Yeah, I could see the problem already.

"Can you tell me about her?" I asked Rias from the door.

"Her sister and her are Nekoshou, her sister killed her master. She," Rias pointed at the little girl. "was sentenced to death but Onii-sama intervened and… well, here she is." I nodded.

"Has she said anything?" She shook her head. "Wait a minute."

I turned around and left. By what little I remembered of the house I found my way to the kitchen and looked for some sweet snacks. Maybe I was being silly but if I could keep her head out of what had happened for a second then I would count that as a win. Coming back to the room I saw Rias and Akeno sitting on another couch, they looked dejected. They had probably tried to talk to the Nekoshou without success.

"Hi." I found myself a seat on her couch but away from her. She stared at me with a blank look. I quick look at her thoughts gave me almost nothing, just pain and distrust. She didn't acknowledge my presence besides that stare.

I opened the bag of snacks and started eating, offering it to Akeno and Rias which each took one. They looked at me strangely, but I decided to ignore them. If it didn't work then, there was little to lose really.

"Want some?" I offered to her. She looked at the bag for a second before going back to stared at nothing. I took a deep breath. "My parents died when I was a baby." I started. She focused on me again. "I grew up with my grandfather, he was the only family I had. He died last month." I told her. She was looking intently at me now.

"Do you know why I'm telling you this?" I asked her, she gave me a barely noticeable shake of her head. "Because you would think I'm alone, like you are now." I started again. "But I'm not, family is important, but family isn't just people that carry similar blood than yours. Family is just a circle of people that is closer than normal friends."

"Her brother for example," I pointed at Rias. "he wouldn't shut up until I started calling him big brother. And he is one for me, I know he has my back. I know he would do anything for me. And I know I would do anything for him. Same for Rias for that matter." Said crimson-haired teen beamed at me.

"So, don't shut yourself in." I told the white-haired girl. She wouldn't take her eyes off me. "You are alone now. But it doesn't mean you will be alone forever. Bad things happen. We just have to push forward, and let people push us forward. That's what my new family has been doing for me. That's what they are trying to do for you." I said pointing at Rias and Akeno.

The girl just stared at me for a second before turning away. But my eyes saw it. The seed had been planted. I hadn't done it thinking she would suddenly start talking to me with just that. But I had achieved what I wanted. She would open to someone eventually.

"Are you sure you don't want some? You can even take the whole bag." I said with a smile offering the snacks again. She turned and stared at the bag for a full minute before talking me up on my offer and taking the whole bag. I chuckled. "So, how has everything been over here?" I asked Rias. I couldn't just try to make her speak the whole time. Better to let her have some space.

"Mostly quiet, mum and dad are… busy." Yeah, the marriage contract with the Phenex. I gave her a reassuring smile. It was a pity I didn't have political power to back her up more. "And Onii-sama has been busy with her case." She said signaling the white-haired girl that was eagerly eating the snacks.

"I see. For my part, I'm living in Lilith now." I informed her with a smile. "I have also started training swordsmanship with your brother's Knight. He is evil, I'm telling you." I shuddered at the thought. "Everything hurts after a training session." I said.

"Yeah, Souji commented something about an entertaining brat some time ago." She sounded and looked amused. I narrowed my eyes at her, and she looked at me with an innocent smile.

"I also received my Evil Pieces, finally." I informed her. She perked up at that bit of information.

"Really?! Did you get any Mutated Pieces?" She was certainly excited. I didn't need to be an expert to pick that up.

"Two actually." Her eyes widened and I answered before she even asked. "Both Knights." She stared at me in disbelief.

If the Pieces had been Pawns, she would have told me that she was still better with her Mutated Bishop but being Pieces of the same value and two of them at that she couldn't win that. I had seen that conversation go on with Sona. Poor Sitri heiress hadn't gotten herself any Mutated Pieces. I had to admit that Sona was not one to look for power though.

"Nothing to say? I remember someone bragging about her Mutated Bishop some time ago." I told her with an amused expression. She pouted at me. "But leaving that aside. How come I never heard of her? And she is your Queen, one would think your honorary brother would know, don't you think?" I asked her as I raised an eyebrow.

She squirmed in her seat a bit. I kept my eyebrow up and looked between her and her Queen. Said raven-haired teen seemed to be really nervous. I peeked in her thoughts and found my answer.

"I don't care if you are half-Fallen." I told her simply. She looked at me in shock. "I'm a Dantalion, I can read minds." I told her the short version. No need to bore her to death with all the possibilities that I couldn't use or explaining the little difference between mind reading and surface thought reading. Her eyes widened even more. "So, her story?" I prompted Rias.

And like that she told me how they met. I have to say, it sounded like quite the story. It was also surprising to know that she was actually the daughter of a Cadre. That's something you don't hear often. It was sad though, that she had been hunted by her own family. I hoped she could find a family in the Gremory as I had. By the looks of it she was well on her way of achieving just that.

During this I kept an eye on the Nekoshou sitting next to me. She seemed to listen intently although she didn't make any attempt to speak herself. I wasn't worried, she would. And if I knew Rias, she wouldn't have any problems making the girl open a bit now.

Rias also told me that she had already used her Mutated Bishop and his backstory. A Dhampir that was abused by his kind because of a Sacred Gear and then killed by Vampire hunters. My honorary little sister seemed to surround herself on stray dogs, I noticed, myself included. I would have joked about that but considering there was a really insecure half-fallen in front of me and a broken Nekoshou on my left I opted not to.

"Verstand! What a nice surprise! Are you staying for dinner? Of course, you are!" Venelana Gremory, Rias's mother, interrupted our little chat speaking in rapid fire. I would have stayed for dinner anyway, but I couldn't help but feel amused that she didn't even let me answer.

"Hey aunt Lana, long time no see!" I said hugging the woman that was my mother figure with a big smile on my face. It was definitely a great idea to come for a visit.

After that I had a great time with my surrogate family. I did have to get through the pity party when they gave me their condolences but from there everything went up. I had to reassure them that I was doing fine on my own several times though, much to my annoyance. Honestly, I didn't know why they were worried. I had taken care of grandfather and myself just fine on my own for months.

However, I didn't complain. They were worried, and that meant a lot to me, to know that someone cared. It helped warm up my chest and keep away the coldness and numbness that threatened to grab my heart every day. I didn't want to know where I would be without these people.

I was only able to leave after several promises to visit soon and to let them know if I needed something. It was funny because turning around and knocking at their door just as they closed it wouldn't have been soon enough for Venelana.

I looked up at the purple sky with the fake sun. I blinked back tears as I had come to do out of habit. This time they were nod sad ones though.

**[}-o-{]**

"Verstand, what a pleasant surprise, come in come in." Lady Sitri received me.

"Long time no see, Lady Sitri." I gave her a slight bow that she returned. The Sitri where always a serious bunch, no idea where Serafall's personality came from. "Am I right to asume that Sona is in her study?"

"Indeed, you are. Do you remember you way there or do you want me to walk you there?"

"I wouldn't say no to your company, Lady Sitri." She gave me a warm smile. The Sitri could be as serious as you wanted, but everyone had a heart.

And like that she walked me through the halls of their manor. Compared to the Gremory everything seemed a little bit more… cold I would say but it would be insulting. It just didn't have the cozy feeling the (mostly) crimson-haired family had.

"Verstand, it's good to see you. Our condolences, it was really sad to learn about your grandfather's demise, we miss him a lot." Said a girl with short black hair in a bob cut and violet eyes covered by a pair of glasses.

"It's good to see you too, Sona, and thank you, that means a lot." I told her with a small smile. "Have I missed something since the last time we saw each other? Rias had quite some surprises for me."

"Well, you already know Tsubaki." She pointed to her Queen, she was a girl with long straight black hair that went down to her knees and with heterochromia, one eye was violet and the other was brown. We nodded to each other. "I also used one of my Knight pieces." She added, pointing to beautiful girl with shoulder length reddish hair and brown eyes.

"I'm sure there's a story behind you that I can hear over a chess game." And Sona smirked at that flicking her fingers making a board appear on a table. "And then I can tell you that I have two Mutated Knights. Oops." I smirked at her widened eyes. Then she gave me an annoyed expression and I put my hands up as a sign of peace. "Hey, I'm not Rias, just thought you would like to know." She gave me a nod but still looked miffed.

Then we proceeded to play while she narrated how she got to meet her Knight. Apparently, she had been called through a flier by an exorcist family of all things. The poor girl had been cursed and the only way the family had found to save her life was being reincarnated by Sona. The girl, Tomoe Meguri, and her family had been exiled by her clan and now they all worked for the Sitri family.

So far, I had gathered that peerage members came through several means but mostly luck. I disagreed with that. I couldn't leave my future in the hands of fate. I knew Sona wouldn't too. She just had lucked out, but I knew she would soon start doing her own research to recruit for her peerage.

I would wait for a while and then I would start my own research. I had siblings in the domestic and foreign affairs departments not to mention one that had actually invented the reincarnation system. Information was at my disposal, and I would be a fool not to use that to my advantage.

I was also glad to know that I wasn't as rusty as I had thought. I was actually able to win two games out of ten. That was a huge success when your opponent was Sona. The shocked expressions on her Queen and Knight told me as much too. It was a relief that the marriage contract deal hadn't been finished yet. Although it was easy to go around it once it was. I just had to surrender right before the game was decided or pull out a trick equally efficient. We had some time to think about that while playing too.

"So-taaaan~!" I heard a familiar voice shouting outside of the room and I saw Sona resisting the urge to facepalm. I had to suppress a laugh at that, she would never get used to her sister's antics, it seemed. Then the door opened with a bang and in came the Satan of foreign affairs.

"Hey, Sera-tan, how's it going?" I said waving at her, and she froze for a micro-second before tackling me.

"Ver-tan!" She shouted and I started chuckling.

"Surprise." I said with a smile.

"You didn't tell me you would come." She pouted.

"You want me to go?" I said with a mock hurt expression and she hurriedly shook her head. It was always refreshing to deal with Serafall to be honest. You could never be bored with her around.

"So-tan!" And then the shock of seen me wore off and she went to her sister's side. People could say whatever they wanted about the eldest Sitri sibling, but nobody could say that she didn't love her sister. Sona was everything to Serafall.

I turned to Tsubaki. "Want to play a game of chess? They will be at it for a while." I signaled at the siblings. She nodded with a weary smile. She seemed to be a lot like Sona so I understood that she wouldn't get used to Serafall soon. The Knight seemed to take it in stride, that was good. Someone had to be able to deal with her.

I had to say, the first two months since my grandfather's demise had been… better than I would have thought. Not that it was a lot. But I managed and it was enough for me. I had my head occupied most of the time at least.

**[} Chapter End {]**

**Hey guys! How's it going?**

I don't have much to say really. I'm a little angry that the site doesn't seem to realize that I updated **The Unknown Character**…

Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter.

**See you.**


	3. Getting Some Company

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Highschool DxD.

**Getting Some Company**

Months passed like days. I got used to the hellish training of Souji-sensei sooner than I thought. He would never convince me that he had started to go easy on me. No, the training was paying off at last. At least I didn't end up sleeping on the floor because I couldn't get my ass to my bedroom. That was a win on my book at that point.

My surrogate siblings and the Gremory and Sitri families kept me from my darkest thoughts most of the time. But I was slowly accepting my new life, as much as I wanted to dwell on how much I wanted my grandfather back. Things weren't going to change back to what they were, and I was slowly moving forward. Very slowly, but as they say, baby steps.

Fortunately for my sanity, during my visits I had regained my edge in chess. Now, Sona and I were pretty much even in the win-loss department. Rias also seemed to have progressed some with her Nekoshou issue. The girl at least answered when asked a question… sometimes, but hey! Progress was progress.

I was also getting to know Lilith much better thanks to my walks around the city. My trait hadn't improved much except that now it needed less concentration, but I wasn't worried about that. According to my grandfather it took a lot of time to get to the second stage of our trait, as it was called, if at all.

He had explained to me that the trait developed according to the user. That's why the more vicious always ended with a damaging one, why the empathic gained the means to communicate better, why the sharp ones would be able to gather more information, why the colder and more manipulative would be able to bend minds.

There was the eternal discussion though, was it developed through the personality or through desire? My grandfather said that it was a bit of both. That only someone with a certain personality could end up with the desire that leaded to certain powers. I found myself agreeing if only because it was the only Dantalion perspective around.

It was during one of my 'practice sessions' that I found myself in quite the troublesome situation. I had been walking minding my own business and reading about others when suddenly I saw something that stopped me on my tracks. Three men walking seemingly without a care in the world.

Not only did their act suck but their minds couldn't hide something from me to save their lives. I saw a girl in an alley. I saw her several times. They had been following her for a long time apparently. I saw their plans. Nothing pretty I assure you. Better left unsaid. I started following them and prepared myself.

Homeless or not, I couldn't bring myself to abandon someone that I knew I could help. My grandfather had raised me better than that. And hearing stories about how my parents were the best kind of people, I couldn't spit on their memories like that either. I wouldn't go out of my way to save people, but if I saw someone that I could help, then I would.

So, there I was following three men to a familiar alley that I had never seen. The girl was there. All I managed to see was her indigo-colored hair and some tattered clothes, if they could be called that. She was in a corner between some abandoned things in fetal position. She looked up when the men entered the alley.

Said grunts stalked towards her. She seemed to be expecting them. Maybe she had seen them spying on her? I wasn't sure, neither did I care. She didn't look frightened thought, so I decided to just watch for the moment. No need to get myself in trouble that I could avoid.

The idiots didn't seem to notice that she was ready to put up a fight. That was their first mistake. The second was letting one of them get near the girl alone to talk nonsense.

"Let's make it easy on all the people involved, shall we? Just come with us peacefully." Said idiot number one, which is to say the one that got closer to the indigo-haired girl. I wanted to snort at that. Yeah, because everyone will agree and go Satan knows where with clearly bad people. What I did do was roll my eyes.

What happened next was pretty surprising. One second the girl was a couple of meters away from the man sitting with her knees withdrawn to her chest. And the next her knee was connecting with idiot number one's jaw. I was barely able to follow the movement. It was impressive, I'll admit.

Number one fell on his butt and the girl did a round kick to his head effectively knocking him out. By then the rather slow grunts number two and three had caught up with what was happening and charged at the girl. I tilted my head in interest. This was proving to be an entertaining sight if nothing else.

Number two threw a punch that would have made me laugh and the girl ducked under it punching the man in his… family jewels. I cringed at that. That was a low blow, literally. The other man took his chance and tackled her to the ground. He started choking the girl with both hands.

I was already taking out my training sword to smack some sense into those idiots when something unexpected happened. A small knife came out of nowhere and pierced grunt number three's arm. He let go with a shriek and the girl got on her feet coughing for air. Before the man could take the knife of his arm, the weapon flew of by itself. My eyes widened before they narrowed.

A Corson. It was a known Extra Demon clan. Their trait had something to do with manipulating blades with their minds. They were a warrior clan and a respected one at that. What was a Corson doing living as a homeless in an alley and victim of lowlife thugs? It didn't make any sense.

I saw the girl breathing hard. Maybe using her trait had taken a little bit more energy than I thought. Grunt number two had finally recovered from her ball crushing attack and number three had stopped crying over his injured arm. Both standing up for round two. Which had all the signs of being theirs if the state of the girl was anything to go by.

That's when I decided it was enough. The girl clearly was in no shape to continue. I ran and jumped to kick grunt number two in the head knocking him out and sending me flying to grunt number three who met my training sword with his head. Fortunately for him, the blade didn't actually have an edge, so it worked more as a blunt weapon.

"That was quite the show." I commented turning to the girl that was eying me warily. I shrugged. "You are welcome." I said and turned away to leave.

Yes, a Corson in that situation was a mystery. But curiosity killed the cat and all that. I simply didn't want to get involved in a probably annoying situation with an exiled member of the clan or an also possible dangerous situation with a criminal. I had done my good deed of the day and I wanted to be done with it. At least that's what I wanted. Someone had other plans.

"Why did you help?" Said a voice behind me. Two possibilities, grunt two wasn't knocked out and his voice had gone really high pitched because of his… injury or the girl was talking to me. I didn't know what option I wanted to be true. I turned to see the girl staring at me.

"Because I knew why they were here. I have a thing about saving people if it's within my power to do so." And with that I turned around again.

"How did you know why they were here for?" She asked this time. I turned and raised an eyebrow.

"If I ask a question will you answer or are you just trying to interrogate me?" I asked back. She looked unsure. I took that as my cue to leave. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

"What do you want to know?" She asked. I took a deep breath. Ok, I could deal with this. I definitely was not avoiding talking to her because I hadn't talked to someone new in years. It wasn't that, I swear.

The Nekoshou and Rias and Sona's peerage members didn't count. The first didn't talk and the latters had had their Kings around to help with conversation. I resigned myself to an awkward conversation with a stranger and sighed.

"Follow me, let's go to a café or something." I said and started walking.

There was a decent enough place near if I recalled correctly. Fortunately, I did. Once we were seated, we stared at each other. It must have been quite the view. A homeless-looking girl having a staring contest with a guy that looked like he came straight from high-society.

"What's a Corson doing living like a homeless?" I asked the most important question in my head. She tensed up instantly.

I just stared at her with an impassive gaze while reading through her thoughts. She had been exiled because she was a woman apparently. I didn't know the Corson clan consisted only of men warriors. She had been in the streets for quite a while too.

"I was exiled." She said simply. _'Well,' _I thought to myself. _'at least she didn't lie.'_ I thought back to her question. Answering that would be a bad idea right that moment.

"What do you want to know?" I asked feigning that I couldn't remember. Maybe I would have some luc-

"How did you know?" She asked narrowing her eyes. Just my luck, she had to actually have a brain. What a drag. Well, it didn't matter really.

"I'm a Dantalion." I said simply. She hadn't given any details either, I could play that game too. "Why were you exiled?" I asked this time. Her eyes narrowed even more. She knew what I was doing.

"I was exiled for being a woman." Again, with the vague answer, huh? After that a waitress arrived and took our orders looking rather uncomfortable. I couldn't blame her really. "What does being a Dantalion have to do with you knowing what they were up to?" She asked this time.

"My trait is good for information gathering." I answered with a smirk. I saw her eyebrow twitch. "How does being a woman relate to you being exiled?" I asked. She kept silent.

Silence reigned for several minutes. The waitress came back and left our orders as fast as she could. I took my cup of coffee and drank. I wasn't in a hurry and the girl could leave anytime she wanted. I took continued trying to get something from her thoughts, but everything was vague. I did notice that her eyes were icy blue.

I finally got a glimpse of the issue after another minute. The Corson leaned heavily in male power. It was really rare for a female to inherit the clan trait. Instead they tended to inherit high control over their magic which was one of the necessary things for using their traits effectively.

So, summarizing, males got the actual trait and females got the control that needed to be passed to the next generation of males with the trait. That was the circle the Corson clan followed religiously. This girl had broken the circle by inheriting the trait. And hadn't done any favors to herself trying to revel against the system the Corson family followed and being a warrior. That had gotten her on the streets.

Me gathering all that info should tell you how long it took her to open her mouth. I would have felt uncomfortable if I hadn't been busy reading her thoughts. I would also have felt bad about reading her thoughts but considering that I could end up in the middle of a political battle for shit like this I think I could be excused. No need to give my surrogate siblings more problems to deal with than they already had.

"I was kicked out because I inherited the Corson trait as a woman. That's something that hardly ever happens. It goes against everything that the clan believes. I also…" She squirmed a bit in her seat. "I also got in some problems. If I had kept my mouth shut and the trait hidden nothing would have happened."

She looked around uncomfortably before focusing on me again.

"Now. What does the Dantalion trait do?" I smirked.

"You are lucky you said the truth, otherwise I would have never told you." I explained and her eyes widened.

"How do you know I told the truth?" She asked narrowing her eyes.

"The Dantalion trait lets me read surface thoughts by looking at people's eyes." I explained and she instantly focused her gaze in the table. I chuckled.

"I already got a lot of information. I know everything that happened that got you where you are now. Is there something else you want to hide?" I asked.

If there was then there was a high chance that I would just leave. So far there wasn't anything too bad in her background, so I was ok. That could change pretty quick if she was hiding something else of importance. Fortunately, she looked up. A quick read showed that she was only uncomfortable knowing I could see what she was thinking.

"Could you… not use it?" She asked.

"Of course."_ 'Not.'_ While I wasn't lying, I wanted to see if she showed me something while thinking I wasn't reading. "Anything else you want to know?" I asked to buy myself time and see.

Apparently, that was it. Nothing new showed up, just awkwardness and a little fear. Fear that I would sell her out to the people that seemed to be after her in the streets.

"Why are you still here? You already know all you wanted." She asked.

"That's true. Do you plan to live on the streets forever or do you have a plan?" I asked back. I was already forming a plan of my own.

"…" She squirmed in her seat. "I don't have anywhere to go, and I couldn't find a job, much less looking like this." She motioned to herself.

I took a second to think. She was a Corson, people said to be born to fight. I would be lying if I said I didn't want her on my peerage. The problem was getting her to accept. Even if I offered her what she needed, she could reject the offer. There was also the fact that she could come to regret her decision of joining. I didn't want to deal with that.

On the other hand, not trying would be a waste. So, maybe trying something in the middle was better this time.

"I can find you a job." I offered. She looked at me with narrowed eyes.

"I'm not joining your peerage." She said instantly. I kept my face as it was. It wasn't an unexpected answer.

"I guessed as much. I can still find you a job." She kept her eyes narrowed.

"What's the catch?" She asked.

"None, I find you a job and that's it." I said simply. "I'll admit, I did want you to at least consider being in my peerage but that's ok. Finding you a job shouldn't be too difficult. We will have to get you some new clothes though. I have someone in mind that can help with that."

"…" She stayed silent for a full minute. "Ok…"

"Great." I called the waitress to pay and stood up. "Follow me. I'll introduce you to my surrogate sister. You may know her." I smirked. "I never got your name now that I think about it." I had done so by myself, but I was being polite.

"Raev… Raev Corson." She said.

"Verstand Dantalion, a pleasure to meet you." I extended my hand to her and she took it.

**[}-o-{]**

"Lady Leviathan?!" Asked a shocked Raev when my 'sister' appeared. I had already talked with Souji-sensei telling him something had come up.

"Hey, Sera-tan. How's it going?"

"Ver-tan!" She tackled me in a hug as always. "I received your call! What do you need?! What happened?!"

"Big sis, calm down, nothing happened. I just need some help with something." I said calmly trying to get her to listen. She didn't even register Raev's presence apparently.

"What do you need?" She asked curiously.

"This is Raev, a friend of mine…" I started and gave Serafall a summarized version of the Corson girl's story. After that the magical girl decided to help the indigo-haired girl get some new clothes and things like that.

Sooner than I thought I was walking behind the girls on the shopping district of Lilith bored out of my mind. I would never get what was so amazing about going out and buying things. The girls seemed to be enjoying themselves and I got to practice my trait, so it was a win-win in my mind. Serafall was more than happy to buy the girl a wardrobe or three if she got to have some fun.

[You shouldn't have a problem if you just lend her a hand.] Sirzechs said after I explained everything to him. He was the Satan of domestic affairs, so I had called just in case to be sure I wasn't getting myself involved in something troublesome for myself or my siblings. [Although, if she joins your peerage forget about getting any favors from the Corson clan. That's the most trouble they can cause for you without getting in trouble themselves.] He explained.

I hummed. That wasn't too much of a problem, for me at least. The only business I could have with the Corson was if I wanted to recruit one, and that wouldn't be necessary if I already had recruited one of them.

"Thanks, big brother. That's good to know." I said. "You sure it won't cause trouble for you?" I heard him chuckle.

[Don't worry. It won't be a problem. Seriously, sometimes you worry more than us.]

"…"

[Ok, maybe not so much but still.] Now it was time for me to chuckle. [It was good hearing from you, Verz. Take care.]

"Same, Sirz. I hope we can meet soon." I said ending the call. "You should see if you can get a job in a shop somewhere here." I commented to Raev once she was fully clothed with a new set and her options seemed to be increasing. Serafall certainly wasn't pulling any punches with the shopping. If she wasn't a Satan, I would be worried she would spend all her money. "Getting you the approval to do contracts in the human world without being in a peerage would be difficult even for us, so you'll have to make do with a normal job here in the Underworld." I explained.

She had been mostly quiet as Serafall dragged her from shop to shop. It wasn't like she wasn't enjoying herself. I had seen her expression say as much from time to time. But she was deep in thought. I didn't have to use my trait to know she was thinking about her options.

"I guess I'll have to." She concluded. It didn't take long for someone to give her a job. Having a Satan as company didn't hurt her chances.

"Well." I started once we were back at the apartment. It was late at night. We had spent the day buying things for Raev. The floor of the dining room was covered in shopping bags. "I guess you can stay here for the night and look for someplace to stay tomorrow." I offered.

She looked hesitant for a while. I couldn't blame her. I had come out of nowhere and was being unusually nice, at least for her. I didn't have a good reason even if she asked me. I just pitied her situation. She was shunned because she had power. She had lost everything because of her clan's traditions. I couldn't tell her that it was out of pity though. She would never accept it if I said that. I knew.

"Thanks." She said bowing.

"Don't bow, it's uncomfortable to see someone do that." I almost pleaded her. She looked amused.

"An heir that doesn't like formalities?" She said.

"Not much of an heir if there's so little to be inherited. It's just an empty title." I said with a sad smile. "And I'm a Lord actually." I corrected her with a bitter tone. "Not that it is much different."

"I'm sorry." She apologized. She hadn't thought I would react like that. That much was obvious by the concerned look in her face.

"Don't worry." I waved my hand dismissing her concern. "I've had years to accept it for what it is."

We sat there in silence for a while. I didn't have a problem with that. We were strangers, obviously we wouldn't have much to talk about. There was also the fact that we probably wouldn't see each other after tomorrow. She, on the other hand, seemed to be pretty uncomfortable.

"Do you have plans for tomorrow?" She asked after a few minutes.

"Do you want to ask me out?" I asked with an amused grin. She blushed and stammered a bit. I laughed. "I'll probably be here in the morning meditating. I'll go out on the afternoon. I have training to do." She perked up at that.

"Training?" She asked sounding very much interested. I smirked.

"I'm training in swordsmanship." I explained. Now she looked positively eager to know more.

"Are you good?" She asked quickly.

"I don't think I'm bad. I have a great teacher. But I've only been training for a few months. I'm no master." I said simply. She didn't seem discouraged.

"Do you think…" She seemed to catch up on what she was going to ask and stopped. She looked at the table. I raised an eyebrow at that but decided to just wait. I had a pretty good idea of what was in her mind without using my trait. "Do you think I could train with you?" She whispered after a while.

"I don't think so." I replied bluntly and she deflated. "My teacher is really picky. I'm lucky I got a recommendation and did a good enough first impression." I still shuddered thinking about the first week of training with Souji-sensei. She sighed. "Maybe we can have a spar or two together from time to time though." I offered and she perked up again. I couldn't stop a grin from appearing on my face.

"I would like that." She said looking between shy and eager. It was an amusing sight. I took out a flier and threw it at her.

"Sure, just call. We can do that late in the afternoon if you are free. That's the only time I can, that or weekends." I told her. She nodded and put the flier on her pocket.

After that we spent some time talking about my training and what I did. She told me how the Corson trained. It was quite different considering that they didn't have to actually hold the swords.

The reason they fought without swords in their hands while using their trait was simple. It was confusing for them. They required a great deal of concentration to use their trait. Most of them used hand movements to help themselves while on battle. There were some masters that had reached the level of controlling the flying swords by instinct so that they could use a sword in their hands, but they were extremely rare.

She was quite open about her clan's abilities, probably because she didn't hold too much love for them after they casted her out. She even explained that they bound their magic to the sword they used. Which required a great deal of preparation and energy to do.

This was the reason why they couldn't just start controlling the opponent's sword against them. She also explained that it was better if the sword was considered theirs. A sword owned by someone else felt strange, even wrong, to them. They had the theory that swords, and weapons in general, had a kind-of-but-not-quite-there soul in them. It made a lot of sense once she explained it. Holy and Demonic weapons had a lot of weight in that theory. Normal weapons just didn't have to will to actually reject a wielder, but a Corson could feel it. I made a mental note through this of getting her a nice sword as a present if we became friends.

Like that time flew by and it became time to sleep. I had trouble accepting what had happened that day. It was so out of the ordinary that it baffled me even after hours had passed.

It was the next morning that I noticed. I hadn't thought back to my days in the manor at all that day.

**[} Chapter End {]**

**Hey guys! How's it going?**

Well, it's been some time (from this series at least). I was re-thinking how I wanted this story to go and I couldn't advance further than this chapter without messing up if I changed my mind.

So, I've been thinking a lot. My brain hurts. And I feel like a father whose child left home after ending the first volume of Another Side. Not to mention that life is still being a bitch.

End of the rant.

**HELP/QUESTION/PETITION: **If you have a request or suggestion for a chapter to be on the peerage this is your chance man or woman. I have spots for Pawns up to a value of 4. It must be a Sacred Gear user (support-type only). It can be an OC or canon character. It would be greatly appreciated if you give me a good setting for them to join but it isn't compulsory.

With that said, I hope you liked the chapter.

**See you.**


	4. Making the First Moves

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Highschool DxD.

**Making the First Moves**

In the end Raev never moved out. She said she wanted to pay the place by herself so she would stay for a week until she got the money from where she worked. Once that happened, she had already got used to leaving in the apartment. She didn't fool anyone though. She liked the company after so much time living alone in the streets.

I couldn't fault her though. I was sure I would do the same in her situation. I didn't know where I would be if not for my surrogate families.

So, we spent another month like that. I did my magic training in the mornings. Then I would go for a training-walk or have a spar against Raev. She was a tricky one to fight against. The flying knife was really confusing. It was difficult to read, let alone block. I offered to buy her a sword, but she refused and said she would eventually buy her own. I didn't argue as much as I would. I already knew her reasoning.

After that it was training with Souji-sensei. The man didn't like me having an 'easy time' (his words, not mine) during training apparently. So, guess who started to suffer again? I went back to the days where I would pass out without even reaching the bedroom, much to Raev's amusement.

I always reminded her that she had yet to defeat me in a spar. However tricky her trait was, I was training with one of the best Knights the Underworld had, I wouldn't lose that easily. There had been some close calls a couple of times though, I would admit as much. But I was happy my training under Souji-sensei was paying off already. I would have never lived it down if she was stronger than me.

Raev, for her part, followed a similar routine, except that she worked instead of that nightmare Souji-sensei called training. She had told me that she needed to expand her magic reserves to increase the time she could use her knife, or any other weapon she bonded with. So, she had started meditating with me to do so.

Having her living with me wasn't so bad. She did get a little bit annoying telling me that she wouldn't join my peerage whenever I did something nice. But otherwise everything was fine. She even payed part of the rent, which helped me to lower the rate at which I emptied my savings. I was grateful for that.

I had also spent as much as I could discussing my recruiting situation with Serafall and Sirzechs. The former had contributed with a lot of books explaining the different pantheons. From creatures to humanoids and everything in between. I was already planning some trips over the world to try and meet with some people. If there was no luck, then at least I would have seen some interesting things.

Sirzechs had done the same with the clans of Ars Goetia and Extra Demons. However, he could only give me a little on each of them. He couldn't spread around more than was publicly known. Spreading around clan secrets could be really bad to his position as a Satan. Same as Serafall really, but the latter hardly had anything that the other pantheons didn't want to be known.

I had some cities in mind that I could pay a visit. Raev had proved a good source of information on some of the Extra Demon clans. She knew one thing or two that could be useful. I would take a look around soon.

Ajuka for his part didn't want to be left behind. He had given me an extended lesson on the Evil Pieces system. We had discussed the advantage of the Unused Pieces, which basically was that they 'improved' together with me. Making reincarnating someone powerful that much cheaper for me in pieces value.

We had also talked quite a bit about how it was best to use the pieces in certain circumstances. I didn't want to use a Rook in someone that had a value of five but wouldn't be able to exploit its boosts in defense and strength. Like someone that was focused on magic for example. I would have to be careful.

Now however, I had some concerns to attend to.

"So, you two are moving to Japan in a couple of years?" I asked. I had come to visit the Gremory family and Sona seemed to have had the same idea. They then proceeded to tell me about their little plan to stay at Kuoh. The territory had been under the Gremory clan's wing for some time now. Lord and Lady Gremory thought it would be the best place for their daughter to make contracts in the human world.

The Sitri had quickly decided to do the same with Sona. Keeping her away from the Underworld would help reduce the pressure to marry her off. Out of sight out of mind, as they say. I knew she was eager to start recruiting in the human world more seriously too. We had talked a lot about that during my visits.

"Yes, right on time to enter a school there. It will be perfect." Rias said with a dreamy expression. I knew she was thinking about all the manga and anime she would be able to buy instead of the school. I didn't even have to use my trait for that. And then she complained about her brother being childish. I suppressed the need to roll my eyes and instead exchanged looks with Sona.

"Right…" I said and started thinking. Maybe I could start traveling already. A trip to Japan to check on the place my two little sisters would live in couldn't be bad. I had to make sure there wasn't anything too dangerous around. Yeah, I would talk to my older siblings. They would appreciate it, especially Serafall and Sirzechs.

"… More." I snorted. Koneko Toujou was a glutton. I had gathered as much the first hour into the first visit after I met her. The girl could finish a bag of snacks or sweets before you even noticed she had it. And it seemed that as the one to start her not so little addiction to those things I was the one that had to take responsibility. Which is to say I was the one that had to look for more after she finished what she had. I wondered if her appetite was something related to her being a Nekoshou or if she just ate a lot and then dealt with it with a bit of Senjutsu.

"Still no luck looking for members?" Rias asked when I came back with another bag for Koneko. I was starting to think that she loved to remind me that I have basically no peerage right now.

"No, and I'm not worried. I haven't even truly started looking after all." I said for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"At this rate you still won't have members for the Gathering." She said amused.

"We'll see, Rias." I said simply. In my head there really wasn't needed to worry. After thinking for a while and the talks with my siblings I noticed that I had time. And if it run out then I would take a page out of Bael's and train enough to beat them myself. Now, wouldn't that be amazing?

"You are not planning to stay in the human world. How are you planning in recruiting?" Sona asked.

"Not every reincarnated devil has to be human you know?" I asked with a half-smile. "I'll look into the Extra Demon and Ars Goetia clans. There could be someone interested. And who says I have to live in the human world to recruit humans anyway?" I asked her. She seemed to ponder on that, although she looked like she didn't quite agree with what I said. I just shrugged, if I was proven wrong then I would have thousands of years to improve. The Gathering was good to demonstrate power but so were the Rating Games later on.

**[}-o-{]**

"Good morning, girls!" I waved as I entered the Gremory house

"Good morning, Verz!" Said Rias and Akeno in unison. I shook my head, they loved to do that. They normally got a giggle out my reaction. Not today though.

"… Hi." Every eye in the room turned to the Nekoshou. She turned to the others when everyone stayed silent. Then she turned to me. She blinked. "… What?"

"You never greet anyone." I said slowly. It was true. The most we had heard of her where some rare one-word replies, yes and no answers to questions and every time she asked for food. And Rias and her Queen's expressions told me they hadn't kept something a secret.

The girl kept staring at me for a few seconds and then shrugged, going back to what she was eating. I stood there for another second before walking up to her.

"Well, I'm just happy I was the first to be greeted by Koneko-chan." I said patting her head. I am not sure, but I thought I heard a hum from the girl.

"Not fair." I turned to see a pouting Rias. I gave her a smirk. She huffed and looked away. "Did you need something? You came to visit three days ago. I thought we would have to wait longer." She asked after she got over her pouting.

"Yes, actually. I came to see if your brother is here and to visit some of my favorite girls." I said with a smile. "Is he around? If not, I guess I'll try to call him later. He didn't answer when I tried though. I thought he would be here relaxing."

"He was with Millicas outside the last time I saw him." The girl said pointing at the back of the house. I nodded at her.

"Thanks. I'll come to talk with you before I go back home. Have fun, girls." I told them as I left the room. As I walked through the house, I went over all the information I had researched.

I had read up on everything there was to know about the Youkai, which was the biggest faction on Japan. There was some activity from other pantheons, mostly Fallens and exorcists much to my constant uneasiness. The last Devil that had gone to Kuoh had died because she got involved with the exorcists. Granted, that type of… involvement, wasn't likely to happen again at all. And I doubted Sirzechs or Serafall would let it happen to their sisters.

The Youkai Faction was divided into two, East and West. The East side, led by Nurarihyon, was much more propense to aggressive interactions with anyone that wasn't in their faction and dared enter their territory. Even Youkais from the West side had to be careful. So, it was a relief to know that Kuoh was on the West side.

While still protective of their territory, the West Faction, led by Yasaka, was much more peaceful. That was also the reason for their higher numbers as they didn't fight off anyone that tried to enter their territory. The downside of this was that while they weren't a problem, other factions would be. I would have to keep an eye out for other pantheons mostly.

However, I had to do something first.

"Verz? Good morning, little bro."

"Big Bro!" I was greeted by both Sirzechs and his son Millicas. The latter of which came up to me shouting and tackled my legs.

"Hey little guy, how have you been?" I asked patting his head.

"I'm not little." He said pouting.

"You'll stop being little when you stop pouting for everything." I replied smirking at him. His pout intensified and I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Did you need something, Verz?" Asked a curious Sirzechs. "Not that we don't appreciate your presence, but I heard you were here recently, and I visited last week." He explained.

"Yeah well." I said gathering the right words to use. "Something came up. I'm planning something and I just had to talk with you and the others. I thought I would meet with you first." I told him. "It's nothing too urgent so, just call me if you are free. I just came because you didn't answer my call and I guessed you would be here." I added quickly. I didn't want to be a bother.

"Don't worry. Millicas has to go back to classes soon anyway." He told me with a smile waving off my worries.

"Can't I stay and spend some time with Big Bro?" Whined the kid. I chuckled again. Millicas always acted like a spoiled boy, although considering his father attitude…

"How about this, when I'm done talking with your father I'll go stay with the girls until you finished the classes." I told him and he turned to me with stars in his eyes. Maybe I helped in the spoiled part too. "Now, go. I don't want to suffer Grayfia's wrath again because I made you be late. One time was one too many." The three of us shuddered at the memory.

"One too many." Millicas muttered as he moved. "You better wait for me before going!" He shouted as he reached the door.

"Sure thing, little guy!" I replied.

"I'm not little!" Was his answer as closed the door behind him. I chuckled. Millicas was just too fun. And too cute, can't forget about that.

"Now, what is it you wanted to talk about, Verz?" Sirzechs asked turning to me with a curious expression.

"Last time I heard about Rias and Sona going to Japan." His expression became quite troubled all of a sudden.

"Yeah." He said slowly.

"I get you aren't fond of the idea." I guessed.

"Not at all." He admitted with a nod.

"I was thinking about going too." That got his attention. He turned to me with a frown.

"I thought you didn't want to live in the human world." He said confused.

"And I don't. I was thinking more along the lines of going, sightsee a bit and see that my little sisters aren't going to be in any trouble." I explained my idea. "Maybe I can get to recruit someone too if I'm lucky."

"So, you are going to look for trouble." He said, clearly not fond of the idea.

"If you put it like that it sounds terrible." I complained. "I'm just saying that I could go and see if I find something fishy. If I do, then I would tell Serafall." I explained again. Much better this time if you asked me. He seemed to relax so I guessed he agreed with me on that.

"I guess it could work…" He trailed off.

"Come on, who better than me to see if there's any trouble there without drawing too much attention." I argued. "Nobody will be expecting someone so young, and I can tell if someone is dangerous without getting close." I said pointing at my eyes. That seemed to convince him a little more.

"I really hate that you are a Lord and can go anyway if we say no." He said with his shoulders slumping.

"Don't say it like you are being forced to agree. I convinced you, accept it!" I pointed accusatory at him and he chuckled.

"Maybe a little." He said with a smirk. "How long would you go?" He asked.

"I was thinking along the lines of a month or so." I told him. "I could go back there for another month next year and so on until they move there."

"Hmmmmmmm…"

"Come oooooon." I all but whined. "You know I can take care of myself. I just need to study a bit more on how Japan works, and I'll be set. I also have three big bad Satans to call if I get in any trouble." He chuckled.

"Ok ok. Just remember to call frequently. That way we can know if something happened and you couldn't call." He said more serious this time. "And make sure you study a lot. Serafall will probably be teaching you everything there's to know about Japan." I groaned at that last part and he was back to laughing at me.

The talk with Ajuka had gone pretty much the same way as with Sirzechs. The one with Serafall on the other hand…

"EEEEEHHHHHHH?! VER-TAN IS GOING AWAY TOO?! Nobody wants to stay here with Levi-tan!" She said while hugging me and crying after I told her what I planned.

"Levi-tan." I said gently. "It's just a month and I'll be back. I just want to make sure So-tan is going to be alright." I explained to her.

"You promise." She said letting go and holding my shoulders as she looked right into my eyes with a serious expression.

"I promise." I said. "I don't want to live in the human world. I already told you."

"Ver-tan isn't leaviiiiiiiiiiing." She said back to hugging me and this time I guessed the tears were of happiness. Serafall was too expressive sometimes. I wondered how that played out when she was at work as the Satan of foreign affairs.

"So, could you help me with what I need to know about the factions there and all that." I told her and she practically disappeared running away.

"I'll look for that infoooo~" She shouted at me from the hall. I blinked. No matter how used to Serafall you were. There were times when it was just a little too much. I sighed.

**[}-o-{]**

After all three of my older siblings agreed to let me go to Japan to check out the place, I was much more relaxed with the idea. The three of them were encouraging my recruiting and that was one of the reasons I was going. They were more than happy to have someone look into the place their sisters would be living too. Even without considering Serafall's obsession with her sister, Rias was still one of the most important people for Sirzechs. Both of them would do anything for their little sisters.

"So, Youkai are everywhere, and I have to be careful because Japan is basically their territory. Don't go anywhere near the East side. There are also Fallen Angels here and there on the lookout for Sacred Gears and some exorcists. Stay away from the exorcist clans that live in Japan and they'll leave me be. Those are the most important things, aren't they?" I asked Serafall. She nodded but still looked unsure. I wanted to roll my eyes. We had talked about this for who knows how long and how many times.

"Are you sure you studied the human world enough? There coul-"

"Yes, I'm sure, Sera-tan." I said trying to keep the annoyance out of my voice. "Don't worry, if something happens then I have a flier that gets me to the apartment instantly." I reassured her. She seemed to relax a bit but not completely.

"If you have any doubts or if Yasaka-"

"I'll call." I interrupted again. She pouted at me. "We've been over this, sis. Everything will be fine. I have to go to the human world sooner or later." I said. She was starting to make me be nervous with all her concerns. She nodded reluctantly. "Thanks!" I said throwing my arms in the air.

"Just… Be careful, Verstand." I turned to her. She never called me Verstand, it was either Ver-tan or Verz. She had a serious expression on her face.

"Of course, Serafall." I gave her a smile. "Everything will be fine." I told her. She sighed and relaxed her shoulders. Then she stood and gave me a hug.

"Ver-tan." She started. "You'll come back, right?" She said looking down.

"Of course, Sera-tan." I said hugging her back tightly.

"Take care, Ver-tan."

"Take care too, sis." Then she left.

I went over what information I had about Japan. I would be there for a month more or less. I would travel everywhere but mostly the surroundings of Kuoh. Most of the trip would be just me sightseen. It would be interesting and would help me look less suspicious. While doing so I would look into as many minds as I could searching anyone or anything troublesome.

"You are leaving tomorrow then?" Raev asked from the hall that connected to the rooms.

"Yeah. I'll be back in a month. Don't miss me too much." I joked.

"I won't." She said bluntly.

"Ouch. Thanks for caring." I said sarcastically.

"I won't miss you if I'm with you." I looked up from the book I had on Youkai and stared at her.

"And the job?" I asked then. She rolled her eyes.

"Take a look." She said pointing at her eyes. I was shocked she was _telling_ me to look into her thoughts. During all the time we had lived together she had always made sure to never look at me in the eye. But I wasn't going to say no. Once I peeked, I started to understand better.

She had just been testing my patience. Watching if I gave the smallest sign of being frustrated when she constantly said she wasn't going to join. Or if I insinuated that I wanted to ask again at any time. In the end it was all useless, because I had given up after the first five times she said she wasn't interested.

But she was a fighter. She had got into trouble with her clan because she didn't want to keep her trait hidden. She wanted to use it, she wanted to battle. So, a simple job in the city was not her cup of tea. Being in my peerage, however, would give her the chance to fight. To climb and fight with the strongest Devils. She had heard my talks with Sirzechs and Serafall about the Gathering. She wanted to take part in that.

Living with me also had served the purpose of showing her that she could 'tolerate' me, her thoughts not mine. We weren't the best of friends, but we didn't annoy one another to no end. She had also watched me to make sure I wasn't a douche. In the end her decision was made.

She would battle by my side.

I couldn't help the grin in my face. Was her reasoning simple minded? Yes. Was she a battle maniac? Definitely. Did I care? Not in a million years. A fighter was exactly what I would need.

"Let's see how much of a fighter you are, shall we?" I asked with a smirk that she returned.

"Let's hope I'm not too good for you, shall we?" She joked. We had spared, we knew I was stronger than her. I casted the spell. After that there was silence in the room for a full minute. "Verstand?" Raev asked worried. "What happened?" I blinked.

"Sorry, I was just surprised." I did a double take casting the spell again and was just as baffled as the first time.

"What's the value?" She asked half-curious half-worried.

"Seven." I muttered.

Seven didn't make any sense. She was a good fighter. She had a trait that was rare in females and on top of that she had the added control of the actual trait that was normal on the Corson women. But a value of seven didn't make any sense. I would have understood up to three or _maybe_ four. But seven was suspicious. She didn't have any close human relatives, so it couldn't be a Sacred Gear. Another trait would have been discovered by now too.

"No offence, but seven doesn't make any sense." I said. She looked equally surprised so I didn't think she would be angry at me. I was right, fortunately. "Any idea why?" I asked.

"No. You already know I can't have a Sacred Gear. I also can't have another trait. It would have manifested by now, even if by accident." She explained what had passed through my head before.

"Does the Corson trait have any variants?" Maybe it was like my trait. Maybe she could have something else besides the normal trait.

"Some… some can't bind to weapons and bind to certain things. Sand, metal, gold, wood. A certain quantity of the element. As long as it isn't forged, and therefore without a 'soul'." She explained.

"But you wouldn't be able to bind to the knife if that was your case." I concluded. "Nothing else?"

"Not that I can think of right now." She said, still stunned. Basically, she had a potential that neither of us knew about. That was good and bad. Good because it would mean more power in my peerage at some point. Bad because it could take anywhere between a day or thousands of years to find out what it was.

"We'll just have to find out, I guess." She stared at me.

"Why would you risk it?" She asked me. "You could be throwing away that advantage if we never find out what it is." She explained.

"I'll take the gamble." I said simply. "Talking with most of the people I know are Kings taught me something, when recruiting, chance encounters and risky situations tend to bring the best rewards." I explained to her. "I can take this gamble without risking much, that's a plus. It's not like it's something that will kill me or anything. The power should be worth it if we find out what it is."

"That's a rather cold view of recruiting peerage members, don't you think?" She commented. She didn't sound offended though.

"So what?" I asked back. "The mere act of recruiting is cold. You don't make someone a peerage member to be friends or family. You are recruiting partners, comrades. Because I could and would be your friend without you having to be in my peerage." I stated.

"You aren't joining to be friends. You are joining for the battle. Isn't it cold too?" I asked back. "But I don't care. Because we both have our reasons to want this. Peerage's are not about friends and family. Peerages are about power. If a peerage member is a friend, then that's great. But I won't recruit anyone _because_ they are friends. I'll recruit because of power. Everyone does that. Recruiting someone with no power because they are friends is stupid. Unless it's the only way to save their lives. In which case I would simply trade them with someone so that they end up as Free Pieces." I finished.

"Does that change your decision?" I asked. I was pretty sure it wouldn't. But it never hurt to ask, right?

"No." She said with a grin. "It's better that way. I would hate to have weaklings as teammates." I smirked at her. Then her face turned serious. "But will you use seven Pawns? Two Rooks would be a waste." My smirk widened as I took out the box with my Evil Pieces and opened it. Her eyes widened and turned to look at me. "Are you sure? This _is_ important." She said breathlessly.

"Absolutely." I said. "If we don't find out what that special thing is then you'll just have to train yourself to the ground to make up for it." She grinned.

"Of course, Master." I winced and she chuckled. Then she turned to me curious. "You mentioned a goal once or twice. But you always say it's a secret. Will you tell me?" She asked.

"Everyone will know during the Gathering." I answered with a smirk. She frowned. "There will be lots of fighting for you, don't you worry."

"It's as if you read my mind, Verstand." She joked and I chuckled.

"Now." I took out one of my Knights and pressed it in the middle of her chest. "I order you, in the name of Verstand Dantalion. You, Raev Corson, shall become a member of my House and respond to my command. You, my Knight, shall be the sword to fight for me."

A small circle of light appeared between the piece and her body. Then slowly the piece was absorbed by her skin. I felt it. The same feeling as that time, when I got the pieces for the first time. That connection that was made between me and the pieces. Now it connected me to Raev.

Ajuka had explained that to me. That most people thought that pieces should have a close relationship with their King and vice versa because of that connection. But they were exaggerating it. Yes, that connection was powerful. A King could know if their pieces were in mortal danger through the connection. A King could call upon the connection to summon their pieces with enough power. But what everyone seemed to ignore was that it wasn't binding.

The trade system existed for a reason. One connection could be switched with another replacing the piece inside for one of the same values. It was also important to know that although everyone could feel it, the connection could be ignored. So, it was more of a bonus to the peerage than the binding contract that some people thought it was.

It _was_ a bit more important this time. I was using a Mutated Piece after all. And Mutated Pieces could only be traded for other Mutated Pieces. And finding someone to trade Raev if I ever needed to would be a pain. I prayed to Maou that it wouldn't be anywhere in the near future.

All this didn't deter the feeling of the connection at all. It wasn't some eye-opening experience. But more along the lines of the feeling you get when you have forgotten something and suddenly remember it. It was always there, and you never noticed. It doesn't really change anything, but now you _know_ it's there and that alone is enough to make you feel a little more complete than before.

"Welcome to the team Raev." I said with a smile that she returned. "Let's make the world know our names." Her smile widened.

**[}-o-{]**

"Sightseeing is alright. Seriously, I don't have any problem with that. But can we return earlier today. I want to fight. It's been a whole week, Verstand." Raev complained as she had done each and every day that we were looking around Japan.

It had been an interesting trip so far. The only problem we had encountered so far was a group of three Stray exorcists that didn't pose a threat to Raev, much less me. It had been interesting to test her new boost in speed and reflexes though.

It hadn't been enough to catch up to me, but it _had_ been enough for her to get closer to my level. Now I had to put serious effort and there was still risk of defeat. It was a little frustrating that she got that boost while I got nothing from being the King. But it didn't matter.

Once I went back to the Underworld and trained with Souji-sensei more I would go up to kicking her ass again. It was just a matter of time really. She did have the fact that now she would actually be able to train in her favor. But I had a master in the art of swordsmanship to teach me. While Souji probably wouldn't accept her as a disciple, maybe I could find someone else. If only to get her some spar partners besides me.

We had also spent an afternoon in the familiar forest. We would start making contracts as soon as we got back from the trip now that we had them. I didn't actually have a territory in the human world to look after so I would be borrowing the territories from the Gremory and Sitri families.

It wasn't cheating though. Several families that had been hit pretty hard by the Great War and the civil war that followed had lost their territories. Now they payed a fee to the clans that had a territory to make their contracts in them. They would do that until they recovered enough to acquire a territory of their own.

The Gremory and Sitri families would never charge me the full price of the fee but I would never allow them to just let me go there for free. I wanted what I had to be earned. Raev, for example, had a debt with Serafall for the things she had paid for. And said debt had passed on to me. I would pay what we owed her back eventually. Maybe I would participate in her show. She would definitely love that payment.

"Ok ok, we can go back earlier today so you can have your fun. Happy?" I said before sighing.

"Yes. That sounds much better than a movie." I stuck out my tongue to her.

"Sometimes you are too much of a battle-maniac. Have I ever told you that?" I asked casually lifting my cup of coffee.

"Yes, I think you have, let me think about it." She makes a thinking gesture holding her chin with her hand for a second. "Yes. Every. Single. Day." She said annoyed.

"Well, that may be because you complain about wanting more spars every day." I said ignoring her huff. Then my eyes darted to the door. A woman entered and I instantly tensed up. Raev noticed but continued with what she was doing casually.

This could be bad. So very bad. _'Please, don't come this way. Please, please, please.'_

Of _course,_ she came our way. Nobody else seemed to notice her presence. Which only could mean one thing. This would be troublesome at best. Or downright deadly at worst.

She appeared to be a young woman with a voluptuous figure and very long blonde hair with matching eyes. She was a woman with delicate facial features and her eyebrows were cut very short and round, a symbol of nobility. Her hair was tied in a loose ponytail that reached all the way down to her legs and ended in a spiral. She was wearing shrine maiden attire.

I saw as the woman walked slowly up to us from behind Raev and took a seat on my right and Raev's left. I sighed and put my cup of coffee on the table again. Slowly turning my eyes to her I asked as respectfully as I could:

"What can we do for you, Yasaka-sama?"

**[} Chapter End {]**

**Hey guys! How's it going?**

Well, a chapter a little longer than usual. But that was a good point to end the chapter, I think.

I don't have much to say really. I'm still kind of slower than before when writing but, what can I do? You'll just have to wait a little more for my shitty chapters.

I have the peerage pretty much decided already. But if you want, feel free to try and convince me to put someone you feel like seeing. I'll admit though, the only ones with a chance at all are canon characters at this point.

I hope you liked the chapter and that you leave a review. Have a nice day or night.

**DESIGNS:** For anyone that's interested, Verstand looks like a younger Dracule Mihawk without beard or moustache. Raev looks like a younger Irelia (from League of Legens).

**See you.**


	5. Never an Easy Time

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Highschool DxD.

**Never an Easy Time**

"_What can we do for you, Yasaka-sama?"_

"Well," She started, looking at me with narrowed eyes. I stared at her and started reading. "You could start by saying why you are here." She was reading me with Senjutsu. That was good. She would be able to tell I wasn't lying.

"Mostly sightseeing." I said with a smile. She relaxed after sensing I was telling the truth. Inside my head I was thinking how she had found us. I would have to be careful. One wrong word and I could cause trouble to Rias and Sona in the future.

"And is there a reason why you chose to sightsee inside my territory?" She asked narrowing her eyes again. Probably because we weren't really hiding our presence and she in particular would have an easy time locating our presence just through our life force with that advantage. Even if it was over all her territory, a week seemed to have been enough.

"Some friends of mine are going to come and live near here for a while. I just want to be sure it's safe. I also heard that you were fairly open for… visits" I explained as calmly as I could.

"Where?" She asked instantly.

"Kuoh." I answered simply. She started thinking about everything she knew about the place and connected it with the Gremory almost instantly.

"I see." She said and then I started to see the problem. "Is there any other Devil around that came with you? Beside your friend here." She said signaling Raev. She obviously knew the girl was in my peerage. She could tell the difference in power. She was even able to see her Evil Piece.

"Not that I know of. But I could try and find out if there's anyone else around for you." I offered. Her eyes narrowed for a second. I was worried she would find out _who_ I was. There was just no way someone like her didn't know about the Dantalion. If she found out, then this… negotiations would be much more difficult.

"If you could do that it would be appreciated." She nodded. She didn't want me to let out her name or involve her people. Neither did she want more Devils in her territory. But she couldn't tell me that because it would have let me know there was something going on, which ironically, I had already seen. I could do her that little favor though.

"I hope he picks up." I whispered to myself as I took out a flier to call Sirzechs.

[Verz!] Came his voice as he picked up. [Did you find something? Did something happen?!] He really sounded concerned.

"Nothing happened. Although, I may have found something." I explained to him. I had to remind myself not to call him by names or anything. "Do you know anything about Devils being here?" I asked. The line went silent for a while. He was probably checking.

[There shouldn't be anyone around. The only Devils with territory in Japan are those from my family. And all of them are living in the Underworld right now.] He told me. I sighed.

"Anything about Stray Devils?" I asked this time. Another pause. The Kyuubi was deep in thought as she heard my side of the conversation. She was trying to understand who could give me that type of information. I was trying to decide if I should let her know that the Satan was confirming this information. It could be a risk to tell her I was close to the current Lucifer, but it would also clear the name of the Devil government from what was happening.

[There are some reports of them running away to the East, but not to Japan in particular. What have you found?] He demanded more than asked.

"Nothing, just some suspicions. And we never did consider that possibility in our talks." I lied smoothly, although, it was easier considering that they were half-truths actually. I thanked the stars that he wasn't in front of me or he would have seeing right through me.

[If you say so…] He didn't sound convinced at all. [Stay out of trouble, Verz.]

"That's what I'm trying to do, Sirz." I said truthfully. Yasaka's eyes widened as her head snapped in my direction. I had made my decision. "Thanks for the help."

[Anytime, little bro.] He said. [Don't hesitate to call if something happens.] He told me.

"I won't, don't worry. Talk to you later."

[Later. And take care.]

"You too." And like that I ended the call. "There shouldn't be any Devils in here. Sirzechs said there were reports of Stray Devils in the East in general but nothing about Japan in particular."

"You just called Sirzechs Lucifer?" She questioned with her eyes narrowed. "You expect me to believe that?" She added.

"You could say I'm an honorary Gremory." I said with a small smile. Her eyes narrowed some more but her shoulders relaxed. I still hadn't lied once. She didn't see me as a threat, nor part of her problem. She was just wary of Devils. I couldn't blame here really, considering the situation.

"Thank you for getting that information for me…" She trailed off. I hadn't introduced myself.

"Verstand. Just call me Verstand. And she is Raev." I said simply with a smile without giving her my last name. I also introduced my Knight that dutifully stayed quite throughout the conversation. We were talking with a Faction leader here, there was no room for unnecessary talk. Yasaka didn't seem interested in talking to her anyway. She just wanted to get it over with and deal with her problem. She nodded.

"I thank you for your assistance, Verstand." She said with a small bow. "Please, do stay out of trouble while in my territory."

"You don't have to worry. I'm just checking the place my surrogate little sister has decided to live in." I said waving my hand. "If you need anything don't hesitate to ask me. It _is_ your territory after all, Yasaka-sama." I said with a polite smile as I passed a flier to her.

"Don't bring any more Devils into my territory, that's all I ask of you." She said simply. "Have a nice day, Dantalion-sama." I fought back a flinch at that while my eyes widened. I saw the picture of my father flash on her mind as it closed, not letting me see anything besides a forest. She had known.

"Have a nice day yourself, Yasaka-sama." I said trying to keep my voice from cracking as she started to leave. I just stared at her walking form in disbelief.

"You are a lot like him." She said as the door closed behind her and everyone was let out of the spell that hid her presence and ours. I stared at the glass door for a full minute, fighting back tears. A sad smile was on my face the whole time.

"Thanks." I whispered to myself. I started analyzing the conversation we had just had. I smiled bitterly. She had played me to get the information without saying her name or the situation to Sirzechs. It didn't really change my view on any of my actions, but it did feel like someone had just defeated me though.

"What was all that about?" Raev asked once she saw me come back to myself. "Does any of this change our plans?" She added. I was sure she was expecting us to go back to the Underworld and to our regular spars and training.

"No, we'll continue with what we have been doing. We just have to add looking for Devils to the list." I said with a sigh before explaining to her what I had read in Yasaka's mind. _'Or maybe it's better to say, what she let me read from her mind.'_ I thought with a bitter smile once more on my face.

Yasaka was indeed not having an easy time with her territory.

There was a group of Devils kidnapping Youkais. That was bad on so many levels it wasn't even remotely funny. First and more important, it could cause trouble between Devils and Youkais in general. Second, that could cause problems between Rias and Sona and the Youkai faction if it wasn't dealt with. Third was, what did this Devils want with the Youkais? It didn't make any sense.

"Was I asking too much when I hoped to only find some odd Stray Fallens and Exorcists as trouble?" I asked with a groan.

"Maybe." Said Raev. "But at least I may find some battles now." She sounded excited.

"Stupid battle-maniac." I grumbled.

"Why, thank you." She said amused and I groaned again.

**[}-o-{]**

"Oi, doesn't that look a little…"

"Yeah, definitely Stray Devil hideout." I nodded. The place couldn't be more obvious if it tried.

I mean, how much more obvious can it get than an abandoned warehouse where there's blood in the door, but nobody seems to give a shit? You could even hear the… thing moving around inside. And talking about that…

"Sounds like a serpent type." I said tilting my head as I heard the slithering sound from inside. "Big one."

"Keep going, it just makes me be more excited." Raev said, practically bouncing in anticipation. I just hoped the thing wouldn't be a disappointment for her.

"Well, first I have to call Yasaka. Just in case." I said stopping her advance to the warehouse. She let out a groan and I chuckled. I took out the flier that connected with the one I had given the Kyuubi.

[Yes?] Replied the voice of the West Faction leader.

"I found a Stray Devil." I informed. "We are going to deal with it, but do you want… it?" I asked.

[Leave it alive. I'll send someone.] She answered instantly and hung up just after I had given her the address.

"No killings." I informed Raev. She just nodded, impatient for some battle. I shook my head. I really hoped that this Stray would be worth her time. If not, then I would still have to deal with her excitement through a spar. I was out on holidays for Satan's sake. Granted, I was looking around for any trouble there might be for Rias and Sona. But it had been relaxing so far without considering Yasaka's problem.

We opened the door of the warehouse and a quick use of some magic to light up the place showed us the Stray in all its deformity.

"She was beautiful. That's a pity." I commented without any care for the being. It was a traitor. Maybe it had a reason, it could be, but most of the Strays just got drunk in power and rebelled against their Kings. There were few cases where the Kings would actively be bad against their peerage. They were his or her strength after all. You couldn't have your peerage hating your guts or they could betray you right when you needed them the most.

"_Was_ being the key word there." Raev said equally uncaring.

"She did retain the face somewhat." I continued. It hissed and tried to stab me with her large spear.

_She_ stood roughly four meters tall, if you didn't count the tail that is. The former beauty had morphed into a half-serpent hybrid. Moving around with a long snake-like green tail. Said color extended up her body and face too. From her shoulders grew four arms that ended in big frog-like hands that handled a spear as big as she was tall. Her face, as I had said, retained some of the former beauty that she seemed to have had, although her eyes were completely yellow. From where her hair should have been extended orange and yellow fins that framed her face like a mane going down to her back.

A peek into her thoughts made me shiver.

"She is a scary one." I commented.

"She's that strong?" Raev said excitedly.

"Not sure." I killed her expectations instantly as she blocked the _woman_'s attacks. "Her mind is scary though." My partner roller her eyes as she started parrying and attacking. "Do you want help?" I asked already knowing the answer.

"Na, just enjoy the show." And enjoy I did. The humanoid-serpent oceanic mutation didn't end up being sushi because we needed it to actually be alive by the time Yasaka's people arrived, but she was close. It was fun to watch Raev destroy it though. What can I say? Devils are violent beings. Rating Games are a thing for a reason, after all.

It had power. I would admit as much. But my Knight was exactly that, a Knight, not a Rook. As the Stray tried to stab or slash at her with her spear Raev only deflected her attacks to the floor or the ceiling at the same time she sent her knife to do a cut here and there before she retrieved it to continue parrying.

"Do you want the spear?" I asked, looking at the weapon. Raev shook her head.

"Too big. I prefer smaller faster weapons." She said making her knife fly around gracefully.

"If you say so." I shrugged. "I am guessing that wasn't a satisfying battle for you?"

"It was a good warm-up for our spar." She said with a grin and I sighed.

"I guessed as much." I said dejectedly. Then a Kitsune Youkai appeared, and we gave the Stray together with her weapon to him. The guy seemed slightly unnerved and disgusted by the state of the thing. "I doubt Yasaka will be able to extract anything from this one." I commented to the guy, snapping him out of his stupor.

"Right." He replied with a scared expression. "Thanks for the help. I'll take everything to our headquarters." He said and we left.

"Good luck." I said waving over my shoulder and shaking my head.

Maybe the Youkais had been in peace for too long. Or maybe this was a new guy. The former theory gained strength when you thought about their Devil problem though. They didn't have enough defenses to stop it. Plain and simple.

I didn't like that. That was less defenses around my little siblings.

**[}-o-{]**

"Can we go back already?" Asked Raev with a tired voice.

"Don't use that voice. We both know you have energy. You just want to go back to spar." I chided her.

"Is it so bad that I like to fight?" She asked with a huff.

"Not really." I admitted. "But you like battles a little too much. Just bear with it for another two weeks and we will be able to go back to training like mad until the next trip." She groaned.

Another week had passed, and we had found nothing. Well, we had found that Stray. But she didn't have anything to do with the Devils that seemed to be a thorn on Yasaka's side. The serpent-hybrid didn't know anything at all. She was so deranged by the separation from his King that she had almost completely lost her mind.

That was what made most Strays stay as lone wolves. Disobeying your King wasn't what made you a Stray. It was just that if you separated from your King long enough the piece inside of you would corrupt your body, mind and soul. The King acted as catalyst between the demonic energy that the piece gave the reincarnated Devil and said individual, that process was what gave the pieces their boosts. Without the passive intervention of the King the energy would destroy the being slowly.

Some could resist that corruption. Powerful beings or some of those who were already Devils to begin with. Although the latters weren't completely safe. Their bodies could only handle so much demonic energy and the piece added energy to their normal amount which in weak Devils would mean they were in danger if they went Stray.

Anyhow, losing their mind made difficult for Strays to cooperate between themselves, unsurprisingly. That's why usually when that happened there was a powerful one involved. Those who could keep enough of their sanity to lead the others. There were even some that could act as a pseudo-King. There were three of those in recorded history. Which meant that there were few and even fewer reached far.

Pseudo-Kings took the part of a King and filtered the demonic energy from pieces of other Strays. Doing so they lowered the damage done by the corruption in others, but they increased it on themselves. All this with the purpose of getting their own pseudo-peerage of almost sane minions.

At some point Strays would follow whoever let them have some freedom and some sanity over being their corrupted selves. Not to mention that most of them strayed for the same reason, to be free from their Kings. As such, they all had something in common to bond over and gather.

I had researched all that during the week.

I wished that it was the Old Satan Faction. I definitely wasn't interested in dealing with an S or SS-class Stray Devil and his or her minions.

Raev, flicking her fingers in front of me, woke me up from my thoughts.

"Oi, you are supposed to be reading, aren't you?" She asked me.

"Yeah, I know." I sighed. "It's just that the whole situation is annoying." I said as I went back to reading everyone we came across.

I thanked Satan that I had been practicing back home. This would have brought a headache if I had done it before I started training more seriously. So much thought reading wasn't good unless you were somewhat used to it. Then I tensed up suddenly.

"There's one ahead. He is the one we are looking for." I told Raev quickly she brought out her knife as I casted a spell for the humans to ignore us. There was a Stray Devil that was hunting a Youkai. I wanted to curse. It had to be a Stray Devil.

It was under a spell to hide its deformed body, but I could recognize those crazed eyes everywhere. A peek in his mind told me everything I needed to know. And a little something extra.

"He's a Corson." I told Raev this time and she tensed up while her eyes narrowed in disgust. When I pointed him out, I gave Raev her orders. Follow and engage when he revealed himself. I would follow the Youkai myself.

[Yes?] Yasaka's voice came from the flier I was using.

"We found one of the Stray Devils you wanted. He is hunting a Youkai right now." I informed. "We'll stop him, but you may want to come or send someone." I added.

[I'll send someone, just tell me where.] She said quickly. I told her where we were and the general direction we were heading to. [Thanks, Verstand.] She said ending the call.I wondered if she had gathered that I didn't like formalities while reading me after our meeting. I shook my head dismissing those thoughts. There was no time for that.

We followed both our 'targets' for fifteen minutes. We didn't want to engage instantly. Preferably, we would leave this situation to Yasaka and her people. But we also wanted to prevent the guy from escaping and read his mind when I could.

I updated everything to the leader of the West Faction every few minutes so that she could inform the ones she was sending. She agreed that we would need every bit of information from inside that we could get. She did tell me that I was as good as dead if something happened to the Youkai. I had to steel my nerves to continue with the plan.

The guy seemed pretty sane for how weak he was, if the read I had gotten was anything to go by. That wasn't good. There was a pseudo-King involved or the guy had gone Stray recently. I prayed to my siblings that he was the latter.

Unfortunately for us, Yasaka's people didn't arrive soon enough. Once the target entered a somewhat empty street where there was just us, him, the Youkai and a couple of people here and there, a sword flew from where the guy stood to the Youkai's leg. I jumped from where I was to stand in the middle of the hunter and the prey, blocking the attack with my own sword.

"What-?!" Shouted a confused hunter.

"What-?!" Shouted a an equally confused prey for completely different reasons.

"Stay away from this." I warned the Youkai without turning to look at him as I blocked the sword again. Raev entered the fray stabbing the back of the Stray's leg earning a scream from him. He looked in disbelief as the knife returned to my Knight's side.

"An accursed witch, huh? The clan has fallen so low." He commented with disdain.

"Verstand." Was everything Raev said.

"Just don't kill him." I said simply and she nodded stiffly. I stood guarding the Youkai just in case.

"He is the one behind the kidnappings?" Asked the fearful Mujina Youkai behind me. Racoon dog or tanuki type were other names for those like him. I just nodded in response. "And you?" He asked dubiously.

"We are just some people that decided to help. Yasaka already sent someone." I was barely paying attention to the guy. My mind was following the fight and keeping an eye out for other threats. Raev was doing a good job. Her knife was parrying the sword without much effort.

Having time to expand her reserves instead of worrying about having something to eat had done wonders for her. Nothing remained of that girl that got tired after a single stab on a thug. Although, being honest, the lack of proper nourishment had contributed to her low reserves at the time.

"This is all you can do against an 'accursed witch'?" Raev told the man, throwing the insult back to him. Accursed witch, that's what the Corson males called the females that inherited the trait.

Apparently, they believed, or wanted to believe, that a female obtaining their ability was a sign of bad luck coming for the clan, a bad omen of sorts. It was laughable in my opinion, and sad too. And as much as my Knight's situation saddened and disgusted me, I was more than happy with how things had played out. Now, Raev would fight beside me and she would prove that she was a force to be reckoned, her clan be damned.

Maybe they were right. Raev's existence could make their believes look really bad once she climbed high enough. It would be poetic that their own customs would be the cause of their _bad luck_. If the day ever came, I would laugh in their faces.

"Shut up, this is nothing!" He shouted as he sped up his attacks. But doing so his attacks only became more obvious, sloppier. I smirked. He was finished already. He received a cut on his healthy leg. Then on his shoulder. His arm.

Meanwhile, Raev was unscathed. She managed to skillfully parry every single attack the guy threw her way. She didn't even have to move while the guy was jumping around trying to dodge the knife that seemed to mock him. She was beating him with a knife while he used a sword.

I kept looking around. Something didn't add up. Why send only one person. I kept stealing glances into the guy's mind whenever an opportunity came. Then I saw it. Or better to say, him.

"Raev, be careful!" I warned. "He'll speed up! He has an ally!"

After that I turned to see the second Stray. He was just around the corner of the street, looking at the battle. His appearance hadn't let him stand closer. He didn't look Japanese at all. He was probably from a Western country. The man had brown hair slicked back with matching eyes and glasses. He stood roughly around a meter eighty.

"Shit!" He shouted as I charged at him. The man had just used his Sacred Gear on his partner. It allowed him to give his comrade a boost in speed apparently. Unfortunately for him, that gear didn't work so well on himself from what I saw in his mind and he was facing me right now.

"Shit indeed, you idiot." I smirked. I peeked into his thoughts. My smirk widened. He was a weakling. I just swung my sword at him while he threw his own body around trying to avoid the blade. I wasn't trying too hard to hit him. I was mainly reading his thoughts and doing my best to get the information I could. Which wasn't much sadly. He was too focused on dodging me for his thoughts to go to something useful.

In the end I decided to just let Yasaka deal with the guy. I slashed at his right thigh making him fall on his face. Then, using the blunt of my sword I hit his arms, that had been trying to protect his head, away and then hit again this time on his temple, knocking him out.

I turned to look at Raev's fight just in time to see her foe fell on his knees.

"I'm not finished yet!" He shouted.

"I think you are." I tilted my head, that wasn't Raev. I turned to see Yasaka flanked by two other Kitsune Youkai, also known as fox type.

"You came personally?" I asked surprised.

"I want this over." She said simply and I nodded still with wide eyes.

"No! No no no." The Stray shouted. "No! I want to see it. I want to see them fall!" He shouted sending his sword in my direction. Not Yasaka's or Raev's. Mine. My eyes widened as I lifted my sword to block. It wasn't necessary, a knife stopped the attack before it reached me.

"You'll only see your own fall." Yasaka said before turning to her escorts. "Take them awa-"

She was interrupted by someone that quite agreed with her. Someone thought the Stray should witness his own fall. A spear made of water pierced right through his chest. He coughed out blood while looking at the weapon protruding from his chest. His hands weakly wrapped themselves around it as it dissolved forming a puddle under him together with his blood. A second later he felt face first into the floor.

We all turned to look at the second guy. He was already dead. I gritted my teeth.

"Look for whoever did this!" Yasaka ordered and her escorts jumped on the roofs of nearby buildings already on the look for the murderer. The Youkai leader turned to me.

"Well, that sucks." I commented with an annoyed look on my face. Yasaka massaged her temples.

"Thanks for saving one of mine." She said signaling the man that was still standing behind me. Then she sighed. "Did you find something before we arrived?"

"Only that they were ordered to capture, not to kill." I said. "And that they were Stray Devils." I said grimly. She mirrored my expression instantly.

"A pseudo-King?" She asked.

"As much as I would like to think they just Strayed recently. This is a group. And if they were ordered…" I trailed off. This situation was dangerous. Really dangerous. She nodded, understanding in her face. "Do you want me to call-?" I started.

"Absolutely not." She denied my offer even before I made it. "I can convince people to leave you alone. It'll be even easier now that you saved one of us." She explained. "But people will go crazy if I have Devils roaming all over the territory. It could even cause problems with the East." She explained and I nodded.

"Have you talked with the other factions?" I asked this time. She shook her head.

"Some people would use that information to say that the Devils are trying to start a war." She pointed out this time. "I won't be the one to start another Great War. Even we were affected by the last one." I stopped to think for a second.

"I'll call Sirzechs anyway." I declared and put up a hand before she could protest. "I'll just ask for information about this two and the one from before." I pointed at the bodies of the Strays. "If they are on the list that he mentioned about those who ran to the East, then I'll ask for information about the others." I explained. She looked down, deep in thought.

"He'll know something is happening." She was most likely right about that.

"Probably. But I should be able to stop him from sending more Devils if I tell him your side." I continued. "Serafall should be able to point out to him that it wouldn't be good to get involved." She eyed me warily.

"You mean Leviathan?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. I send her a smirk.

"I didn't tell you that Sona Sitri will also be staying at Kuoh, did I?" Her eyes widened.

"But Kuoh is…" She trailed off as realization hit her. "Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri." She concluded and I nodded. "Two sisters of current Satan will stay in Kuoh?" She asked in disbelief. I nodded again and she massaged her temples. "You Devils love to give me trouble, don't you?"

"Sorry about that." I said with an apologetic smile. Her position would suck when the time for Rias and Sona to stay at Kuoh came. "At least that will be in a couple of years." I tried to reassure her.

"That's a relief." She sighed. She stopped to ponder on the idea for a minute. "And you promise they won't send Devils here?" She asked staring directly into my eyes.

"I promise I'll do my best to stop them from doing so." That was as far as I could get. I was no one to order the Satans around, no matter how close we were. She stared for another minute before sighing and nodding. I took out a flier.

[Verz, is everything ok?] Answered Sirzechs, this time much more composed than before.

"Hey, Sirz." I greeted. "About those Strays you mentioned the other day. Could you tell me more about them or send me some info?" I asked. "I think I met one of them." If I said I met three he could start thinking about a group by himself.

[And why would you want the information on the rest of them.] Or maybe he would start doing so anyway. I stayed silent for a second gathering my thoughts. [Verz, tell me what's going on, right now.] He ordered and I sighed.

"Ok, but it's better if Serafall is there too." I told him. The line was silent for five minutes.

[Ver-tan~! You could have called me by yourself you know?] Asked Serafall.

"I think there's a pseudo-King around here, and they are kidnapping Youkais." I informed them bluntly. The line went silent.

[And Yasaka told you not to tell me last time.] Sirzechs guessed.

[She doesn't want Devils flying around her territory, does she?] Serafall continued cheerfully. [That would be scary for them~] I could almost _see_ her dramatic shudder. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"Exactly." Another pause.

[I'll send that information.] Sirzechs said. [Can we talk to Yasaka?] I turned to the Kyuubi.

"They want to talk to you." I informed the West Faction leader who nodded. Passing the flier to her I turned to Raev. "How was the fight? Satisfied?"

"He was a weakling too." She complained. "So, no. That spar is still going to happen." She told me and I groaned. _'They weren't even useful for that.'_ I thought to myself.

"For goodness's sake!" I heard Yasaka shout. "No, I won't let anything happen to your little brother, stop with the threats Sirzechs!" I chuckled awkwardly while sweatdropping. I didn't think they wanted to talk about _that_. I took the flier from an annoyed Kyuubi.

"They are really protective of you, you know?" She said exasperated.

"Yeah, I know." I replied with a small fond smile.

"As if I didn't have enough things to deal with." She complained. The she stood still and slowly turned to me. "Now that I think about it. How good are you with children?" I raised an eyebrow at her.

**[} Chapter End {]**

**Hey guys! How's it going?**

Well, here's another chapter. I hope you liked it.

Just in case someone was curious the first Stray Devil looked like a Siren Naga from Warcraft.

**Request:** If someone could help me out with some Holy and Demonic Japanese weapons, it would be greatly appreciated.

**See you.**


	6. The Fox's Den

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Highschool DxD.

**The Fox's Den**

"I'm boooooooooo~red" Raev said from where she was lying on the floor shaking her legs childishly in the air.

"Onii-chan is cheating again!" Complained a young girl with golden blonde hair and matching eyes. She also had nine tails and a pair of fox-like ears on her head. She was wearing the traditional miko outfit.

"I don't know what you are talking about, Kunou." I said with an amused smile as I continued playing cards with the girl. I wasn't cheating. And I definitely wasn't doing so to look at the little girl pout. Not at all.

"Stop cheating, Verz." Raev chided me.

"I'm not cheating." I said sticking out my tongue to both of them.

"Onii-chan's a meanie." The little blonde said with a pout. She looked so adorable I had to control myself in order not to gush at her. It was like dealing with Millicas in girl version. I would never tell that to Kunou though, there was some difference in age between them that would definitely make her pou-… On second thought, I probably would tell her someday.

"You are just a sore loser." I said jokingly and her pout intensified. Suddenly her pout vanished and instead there was a completely serious face that clashed a lot with the little girl that she was.

"I brought the tea for Kunou-sama and the guests." Said a voice behind me and I turned to see a kitsune Youkai servant leaving a tray with cups for the three of us.

"Geez, you people are a little too serious." I said picking up the tray and setting it on the table.

"The host should be the one to do that, Onii-chan." Mumbled Kunou as I took my cup.

"You either let me do as I please or stop calling me Onii-chan, Kunou." She was pouting once again. _'Much better. A little girl shouldn't have such a serious face. Ever.'_

It had been another week since our little encounter with the Strays. Since then I had been 'employed' as a babysitter for Yasaka's daughter, Kunou. The little girl was lovable but tended to get really serious when in presence of others. She thought it was her duty, or something of the sort, to act as a proper lady at all times. It had taken me the full amount of two hours to crack that mask. I even had to use my trait a little.

Once you impressed her with something flashy, you had her. As simple as that. So, some little tricks made by Raev with her knife and some mind reading ones by me and she was a perfectly normal excited little girl. Yasaka had been delighted when she arrived home one afternoon to see me playing cards with Kunou and the little girl pouting and whining about me cheating. It had been hilarious. Soon after that the three of us were playing together. As surreal as playing cards with a leader of the Youkai faction and her daughter was, it wasn't quite on the same level as playing cards with three Satans. My life seemed to work with a different meaning for the word 'normal' and I had given up denying it.

For her part, Yasaka had employed all that extra time she had free of looking after Kunou to chase after the pseudo-King and his slightly insane minions. She had stopped several kidnappings since then, her people were slowly rising their defenses to what they should have been in the first place. The Kyuubi had promised me that her territory would be as safe a place as it could be for my siblings, not quite on those words but that's what it meant for me. Her daughter had taken more time from her than she realized, apparently.

I had offered to come by occasionally after our month of surveillance finished and even follow the plan and visit for a month every year. Both Kitsune Youkai had been delighted. Kunou would have hugged me to death if not for the fact that she was so little. This had happened three days into hour little agreement and it also had marked the point at which I became Kunou's Onii-chan.

Our relationship with Yasaka herself had improved a lot. The leader of the West Faction had been wary at best to leave us with her daughter. But after two days of nothing happening under the cautious eyes of her servants (And herself, I suspected), she had decided to take advantage of it. She had been more than happy to see her daughter come out of her lady persona and be the child she was from time to time.

For our part, I pretty much enjoyed my time relaxing with the Youkai girl while Raev sparred with some of Yasaka's guards and the like. It hadn't taken much convincing really, considering that the Kyuubi wanted to raise the level of her forces. Having an opponent such as Raev was a blessing for her plans. She even went out of her way to find spar partners for the Corson girl, much to the latter's delight. I was just happy I wasn't the one that had to do it. That didn't mean I slacked off. I just wasn't as enthusiastic as my Knight.

That didn't mean we were fooling around though. When Raev was not sparring she would often look after Kunou while I went on patrol. My trait made looking for the Strays pretty easy and relatively save. And now that we had the information sent by Sirzechs to base our searching on it was that much easier. I had found a couple of the groups that Yasaka's people had quickly dealt with by themselves.

Said information pointed around thirty Strays give or take some that could be normal ones and not part of the group, like the first one we had found. Taking off the two Raev and I had found and the fourteen that Yasaka had taken out, four attempts with two people and two with three, made a total amount of seventeen. That meant that we had taken out more than half their people, unless they had people from a long while before, which was unlikely.

Unfortunately for us, every failed attempt ended in the perpetrator's death. Yasaka had no idea how whoever killed the Strays did it. Water just seemed to come out of nowhere and kill the, even inside barriers. They had even attempted to kill some of the Youkai soldiers and Yasaka herself. Fortunately, her foxfire evaporated the water before touching her and the Senjutsu strengthening of the guards protected them. Although, most of the soldiers _did_ end up hurt.

"Kunou is making a cute face again~." We heard and turned to see Yasaka with a camera in her hands. The little girl's pout became even worse puffin her cheeks and tearing up a little.

"Oka-san is being a meanie too." She said, her face as read as a tomato. I petted her head right between the ears.

"Come on, let your mother enjoy her cute daughter while you are little." I said with a smirk.

"I'm not little." She said maintaining her pout.

"Hooo." I said looking away. "My Imouto is all grown up. She won't want her Onii-chan to visit anymore." I said dramatically clutching my chest as if my heart hurt. "Raev, we'll have to look for somewhere else to go during holidays." I said dejectedly.

"We could do that trip to Greece that you were planning, Verz." She commented with a smirk.

"Yeah, I guess we can do that." During the whole thing Kunou's face was paling more and more as she stared at us horrified.

"Nooooooo~." I was tackled to the ground by a little blond Youkai. I turned to see an amused Yasaka giving me a smile.

"That's my cute little sister." I said petting her head again. "I guess we'll have to leave that trip for another time, Raev." The Corson just shook her head equally amused by the girl's antics.

"Seriously." Yasaka started. "It will be difficult to see my little girl go all lady-like when you are not here anymore." She said with a sad smile. I gave her a sympathetic one. I understood the weight of power better than most. I had seen it on my siblings' shoulders. Those same tired expressions that only showed when they thought no one was looking, I had seen Yasaka wearing it a couple of times.

"I'll visit sometimes during weekends." I said as Kunou started rubbing her head against my chest and I chuckled. "I won't be able to survive without this bundle of cuteness in my life." I joked pointing at the girl. The Youkai leader gave me a knowing smile. Then my face turned serious and so did hers. "How was everything today?"

"Quiet." She said biting her lower lip. "Too quiet. I can't shake the feeling that something will happen."

"If you need reinforcements just call, I'll go myself or I'll send Raev. Or we can both go." I offered.

"I would be more at ease knowing there's someone here with Kunou to be honest." She admitted. "I love my people, but my daughter is everything I have." She said with a fond, yet sad smile directed at her daughter. "I fear that they will try to attack here one of these days and being out on patrol I may not be able to come back on time."

"Family is family." I said with my own sad smile as I set the girl on the table again and we started another game of cards.

"Indeed." The leader said taking a seat to play too.

**[}-o-{]**

It was an hour later while I was in the process of wiping the floor with both of them that a Youkai servant came running.

"An attack!" Yasaka stood up instantly. "They said there were ten people!" My eyes widened and the same shock showed on Yasaka and Raev.

"A last effort?" I said feeling my shoulders tense.

"Maybe, I'll see you later." The faction leader left like that.

My mind ran through possibilities. Indeed, considering that those ten people could be all that remained of the Stray group it made sense that it would be a last effort to get Youkai. We still didn't have a clue just to _why_ they wanted Youkai so badly though. However, they seemed almost desperate to get them. We had also gathered that they hated high-class Devils, not just by the attempt against me from the Corson Stray but also from several of the other Devils had confirmed it.

No matter how much I tried, I couldn't see the connection. What had the Youkai to do with getting back at the high-class Devils. It didn't make any sense in my head.

I turned to see a nervous Kunou and smiled reassuringly.

"Everything will be fine. Your mother will come back soon, and I can continue wiping the floor with both of you." I said with a smirk and she turned to glare at me.

"Onii-chan cheats." She accused. _'I wish I could cheat against Yasaka, I truly do.'_ I thought to myself.

"Sore loser."

"Meanie."

"No more petting."

"Onii-chan is so nice~." She said putting on her most adorable smile and I my resolve crumbled like a house of cards and a second latter I was already petting her head. Cuteness can get anyone anywhere, I swear. She hummed, satisfied with herself. Spoiled little brat.

"Let's continue playing until your mother comes back, ok?" I suggested and she nodded with a small smile. It would keep her head off her mother and mine off the Strays. With a bit of luck, the problem would be dealt with before the end of the day.

Our game was interrupted by a scream that froze the three of us. My back straightened instantly while Raev sat up so fast you would have thought she never was lying in the first place.

"Raev, stay here." I said and walked out the door already with my sword out.

"Onii-chan?" Kunou said with a fearful look on her face.

"Stay with Raev and do as she says, ok?" I ordered seriously looking at the girl from the already half-closed door. After a second the girl gave me a nervous nod and I finished closing the door turning around to see what had happened.

A minute later I was seeing the servants lying on the ground outside the place.

"Well, well, look at that guys." Said a crazed voice. I got my guard up instantly. "We hit the jackpot, we kidnap the Kyuubi's daughter and get to kill one of the spoiled brats of the Devils!" He said and started laughing.

Three people stood among the downed Youkai, two men and a woman. I prayed to my siblings that those Youkai remained alive at least. My eyes then focused on the Strays. Quick readings told me they would attack no matter what.

"Well, well, look at that." I started. "I hit the jackpot, I get to kick the Strays' asses and I don't even have to look for them." I said mockingly. Their blood boiled and they jumped at me. I dodged as best I could, trying to get what their abilities were.

One, I knew instantly, red hair and black eyes, Orcus. The Orcus were an Extra Demon clan, they were known for their inherent strength that their trait allowed them to boost even more.

The second was also pretty obvious, she charged using her clan trait. Another Extra Demon clan, Raum. Their trait allowed them to turn into crows. At first it didn't look like much, until you were dealing with either a gigantic crow or a flock of them, depending on which version of the trait the man or woman had inherited. By the looks of it the Stray was the former, although her crow was barely two times the size of a normal one. A look into her thoughts told me she was just using it to get close faster. I had seeing her carrying a spear before she transformed.

The last one was more difficult to guess. He was a Sacred Gear user, a pair of bracelets shone on his wrists. He was the slow though, so I decided to just deal with the other two while he was charging. He had a sword on his hands too.

I dodged a punch from the Orcus that buried his fist in the ground and tried to slash at him with my sword. The strike was blocked by the Raum using a spear. I twisted the sword to a side and changed my target to the woman. The Sacred Gear user was getting close already and the Orcus got his hand out of the ground.

I cut the Raum's arm and jumped back, avoiding the sword of gear holder.

"Afraid are you, spoiled brat?" Mocked the man. I ignored him, I had better things to do than listen to his nonsense. Reading their thoughts for example. I needed to know what they were going to do. I also needed more focus, reading Stray's minds was almost painful. At least they weren't completely insane like the first one we had dealt with. But reading a Stray's mind was always uncomfortable if not outright frightening and disgusting. The only good thing about them was that they wouldn't be able to hide something to save their lives. They always showed everything at the forefront of their minds.

I ducked under a punch from the Orcus and ran past him cutting his leg. Then I jumped over the Raum's spear and cut her other arm. That would make battle difficult for her. As I was in the air, I jumped using the woman's face as a platform and got back to where I started. The Orcus, having turned to where I had run to ended with his back to me, which was promptly slashed. I dodged the sword once again but received a back-handed punch that send me to a wall.

People could say Orcus were slow or stupid all they wanted, no one could say they were weak. I spat out blood, my legs shaking. My vision blurred for a second before I regained control of my senses. I ducked once again to avoid a punch that buried itself on the wall. My grip on my sword tightened as I forced my arms to attack once again. I slashed the side of the Orcus's neck, blood gushed out of the wound like a fountain and the man instantly tried to cover it with his hands. I ran away from him to the charging gear user.

Reading his next attack, I deflected his sword to the ground and slashed quickly to his dominant arm. I didn't know if the Orcus would continue after that wound but if I had to deal with them at least they would be hurt. The Raum woman had basically given up fighting as she was unable to even lift her weapon with both her arms injured. I kept an eye on her just in case.

I saw the swordsman think that the Orcus was out and suppressed a sigh in relief as I blocked his slash. His attack was weaker now that he was injured too. Deflecting to create an opening once again I slashed at the wrist of his other arm. To my utter surprise he didn't drop the weapon. Jumping back to dodge his sword once again I took another peek at his thoughts. Then I realized what was happening. There was no pain. The Sacred Gear didn't let him feel pain.

I blocked another attack. Fortunately, while pain didn't affect him, the wounds did. His arms couldn't muster the strength they would in a normal situation with the cuts in them. I hit his sword as hard as I could, and it flew away from its former wielder. Then I slashed at his chest and his leg. He fell to his knees, but before I could try to knock him out, he smirked, and I jumped aside. The Orcus wasn't as out as both the swordsman and I had thought. His fist buried in the ground.

Something hit me from the side, and I fell to the ground.

I turned to see the Raum woman had tackled me. _'That's some determination to get rid of me.'_ I thought as impressed as I was annoyed. I quickly pushed the woman off me from the ground and kicked her head to the side. After that I rolled over to dodge the Orcus's stomp. As I stood up, I scanned the area. I had lost my sword when I was thrown to the ground. I ran to the spear the Raum had carried with her. That was the closest weapon to me.

As I picked it up and I turned to look at my foes, I saw a charging Orcus. As fast as I could I put the weapon between the two of us. He swatted the spear aside and I jumped back. I wasn't a spearman I was a swordsman for Satan's sake.

Still with the weapon in my hands, I read the Orcus's next attack and dodged his punch while wielding the spear to pierce his side. After that I ran to pick up my sword again. When I looked around again everyone was on the ground. The battle was over.

Taking deep breath in a vain attempt to calm my accelerated heart, I stepped up to the Raum woman. I kicked her making her look up and stared directly into her eyes.

"Is there anyone else that came here?" I asked and instantly got the answer. No, they were the only ones. I stretched my back a bit, I couldn't just shrug off that blow the Orcus had given me.

"As if I would tell you!" She spat at me and I suppressed the need to smirk.

"Why did you come here?" I asked this time. They wanted to kidnap Kunou while the main group distracted Yasaka. Clever, if not for the fact that Raev and I were here.

"Are you stupid?" She shouted trying to move and I put a foot on her chest pushing her once again to the floor.

"Why do you want Youkai?" I continued. They wanted them to attack the high-class Devils. They wanted Youkai because of the incident that occurred a while back. The incident that involved Koneko's sister. They wanted to unleash a bunch of Senjutsu frenzied Youkai on the Devils. I would have thought the plan was stupid. but considering they were a bunch of slightly insane Strays, it was as far as they could get, I supposed.

By then the Raum had stopped struggling and answering altogether. I was fine with that. It wasn't like I _needed_ her to answer at all. I just had to read.

"Where's your leader now?" He was with the group that was supposed to distract Yasaka. I frowned at that. "What if Yasaka kills him?" Her eyes widened and she wondered how the hell I knew that. "What if she kills him?!" I shouted at her, burying my sword right next to her head.

"I-I don't know." She said frightened by my sudden aggressiveness. She was lying though. They had put circles around the kidnapped Youkai that would blow up if the leader was killed. He would buy himself an out with that.

"Where's your base?" I asked this time. And I saw the place. I concentrated more until I had an idea of where it was located. "Is there someone else beside the ones here and the ones distracting Yasaka?" I made my final question. There wasn't time. The leader could hurt Yasaka or worse, having the Youkai as hostages. There was nobody else in their base, perfect.

I knocked her out and walked to the other Strays to confirm that they were out. Both were dead already, they had bleed out from their wounds. I went inside, back to the room where Raev and Kunou were while thinking as fast as I could. Those Youkai would need to be free if I wanted Yasaka to be able to fight. I just hoped she could defend herself well enough until then. I knocked at the room's door before entering.

"It's me." I announced.

"Where did you meet me?" I heard Raev through the door and smirked. Clever.

"In an alley about to get your ass kicked by some lowlife thugs." I said mockingly. I heard a groan.

"Onii-chan!" After opening the door, I was tackled by a blonde missile. I also heard Raev muttering something under her breath. It sounded like 'another question'. I smirked figuring out what she was thinking.

"I just came to say that I have to go somewhere." I said turning serious. Raev straightened up at my tone. "I already dealt with the Strays that came here. Kunou, stay here. Raev, go out and see if any Youkai needs help. They seemed to be knocked out. I'll go to their base. Their main force is where Yasaka went but they are going to use the kidnapped as hostages." I said quickly and my Knight nodded.

"When I come back ask me how Verstand plays cards." Raev told the little girl after she nodded at me. I wasn't sure she got everything but if she got the part about staying, it would be enough for me. "You have to answer that he cheats." My Knight said with a smirk that I decided to ignore. She quickly left to do as told. I knelt next to Kunou.

"Did you hear what she said?" I asked softly putting my hands on her shoulders.

"Yes…" She said with a pale face.

"Everything will be ok." I reassured her. "We'll all be back before you know it." I said with a gentle smile. Her lips twitched up. "Be a good girl and stay here, ok? When everyone's back we'll play something together and I'll get Raev to do some tricks." I told her before kissing her forehead and standing up.

"Be careful, Onii-chan." She told me before I stepped out of the room.

"Of course, Imouto." Then I closed the door and made my way outside. There were some Youkai that seemed to have come to help already. Raev was watching just in case someone else attacked. "Go back to watch over Kunou, I don't want her to be alone." I told my Knight who nodded and went back to the room.

I took a deep breath. How had everything gone so crazy so fast? I shook my head. I had to free those Youkai and let Yasaka do her job. Then the biggest threat near Kuoh and maybe the country would be dealt with.

**[} Chapter End {]**

**Hey guys! How's it going?**

Well, first, I hope you liked the chapter.

Second, I'm more than likely going to have to travel back to my parent's home tomorrow or the day after. That means I most probably won't be able to publish often, or at all, for a month or so until my holidays are over. I'll try to find a way around that and publish something from time to time.

Third, I'll try to get a chapter for The Unknown Character before I go but I make no promises. I have been slowing down my pace a little to no kill my brain. Admittedly, at the worst time possible, but what can one do?

As always, tell me if you liked it or not. Have a nice day.

**See you.**


	7. End of a Favor

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Highschool DxD.

**End of a Favor**

'_Come on, come on, come on.'_ I thought as I flew over Kyoto. I was getting impatient.

I was trying to contact Yasaka. I definitely had to inform her of the attack and the information I got. Chances were she was in battle with the leader. I knew she was strong, but someone that could act as a pseudo-King for all those Strays was no pushover. Her knowing about the hostages and me going after them could change the result of that battle.

I wasn't sure what the leader would tell her. I was betting on him or her telling Yasaka that the hostages life depended on his or her life. No matter how strong acting as a pseudo-King for that number of people just _had_ to have taken a toll on the sanity of the leader. I just hoped it wasn't enough for him or her not to tell the Kyuubi about the hostages.

I couldn't quite wrap my head around the situation. This wasn't something done against the Youkais. They wanted to use them against Devils. That was the only thing that made _some_ sense. Strays always hated Devils, sometimes even more than anything else. Their hatred came both from their Stray insanity and from their own reasons to go stray.

'_Pick up, pick u-'_

[Vestand! Not the moment!] I heard over the circle.

"I know! A group attacked your house!" I informed.

[What?! Is Kunou-]

"She is ok." I reassured quickly. "It's taken care of. I'm on my way to their base to rescue the hostages."

[Ok… ok…] She told me sounding like she wanted to calm herself more than me. [You do that. The leader is here, he is a lot of trouble, and he says the hostages will die if he does or I stop him.] She explained.

"I know. That's why I called. Just stall while I free the Youkais. From what I read from the ones that attacked your home, there's no one else in their group." I informed.

"Ok, be quick. I can deal with this guy, but even I can't last forever just defending." She said and then cut the connection. I took a deep breath in and continued flying. Thank my siblings for spells that made the mundane not notice some things or another. I could only chuckle at what humans would think if they could see me.

My laughter soon died in my throat as something I had been thinking about crossed my mind once again.

Strays.

I had heard of them. I knew what they were and why. I knew the reasons why they normally became that. I had studied a lot about them. It was my duty as a King and as an unemployed Devil (without counting contracts) to hunt down Strays. Specially if I got my hands in a territory to call my own.

But nothing of that drove home the point as much as dealing with one face to face. Nothing could prepare me to the insanity I could see in their minds, the hatred towards me in those eyes. My mind showed me a Raev with insane eyes. I quickly shook off that picture.

The Corson and I weren't close. We hadn't known each other for that long after all. But she was in my peerage. I had been the one to use the Evil Piece in her. The responsibility of her going stray would fall on my shoulders. That couldn't happen. It wouldn't happen. I wouldn't be responsible for another Stray on the streets. No, I had to be careful with my peerage.

I pushed all those thoughts to the back of my mind as I arrived to the place. Their hideout was underground. That was a common thing with groups that didn't want to broadcast their strength like some of the bigger factions. The location also made a surprisingly lot of sense, it was located right in the middle of the city and away from the temples.

That helped them stay away from the eyes of the Youkais. The latters preferred to stay near nature unless they didn't have a choice, in which case they usually lived inside a temple. This location also helped them hide in plain sight as it may. Maybe the pseudo-King had chosen the place before taking in his subordinates. That was the most likely answer for a well thought out decision made by the Stray, I thought as I entered the hideout through staircase.

The place was pretty dark inside, but considering that every member of the group was out, it kind of made sen-

BOOM!

For a second, all I could see was white and then I felt the pain. My left arm hurt like hell. My right one wasn't much better having clashed against the wall. Trying to blink the white spots out of my sight I stood up weakly with my legs trembling.

A trap. A stupid trap. How the hell could I be so stupid as to fall on a trap like that? Sona would surely face palm pretty hard if she ever found out.

When my sight finally cleared, I turned my gaze to my left arm. It was charred all over together with a bit of my chest and my left leg and I could barely move it without feeling like I was putting it into a vase of holy water. The rest of my body was pretty much ok. I took a deep breath in trying to drive away the pain. I had felt worse. Souji-sensei's hits were worse.

Flexing my right arm to get the stiffness of it hitting the wall opposite to the trap away, I turned to look at the rest of the stair case. There would be more traps, I was almost sure of that. Another deep breath in thinking fast.

'_Ok, this should be easy.'_ I said partly as a reassurance to myself and partly chastising myself because of my own stupidity. I hadn't trained much on my Assault magic but it was still usable on emergencies. Even more on a situation like this.

The thing with traps was, unless you were a specialist or just really good at placing them, they were pretty easy to defuse. They worked with magic circles, circles that were basically the weak spot of traps. If you affected the circle in any way outside of a trigger then it would break and the trap was basically useless.

Obviously, the downsides of this were numerous. Firstly, you had to actually _know_ where the trap circle was located and traps circles always had a camouflage of some sort written into the array. Secondly, most traps had triggers adapted to pretty much every way in which you could deactivate them. Thirdly, advanced users had ways in which the circle would function even if broken, with limitations obviously.

I closed my eyes, carefully considering the situation. Yasaka was buying time for me. There was no back up and no time to call for someone.

I was an idiot.

I had run into the situation without thinking. What the hell did I think I was? Some kind of main character from Rias manga or anime? Nobody could hear of this or I would get a scolding from everyone I knew. I should have brought some people with me. Why hadn't I asked the Stray about traps on the hideout.

However, there was no time to whine and bitch about my own stupidity. Time was running out and I needed to do something. With that decided, I opened my eyes. The pain still very much present on my left arm made me use only my right arm. With it lifted in the air, a myriad of tiny circles appeared in the air. They were mini Assault arrows, but considering the size they were more like needles.

Praying to my siblings that the Stray to set the traps wasn't too lucid or too good, the needles shoot everywhere in sight. The walls, the ceiling, the stairs. With a relieved sigh, I saw several more traps show themselves and dim as their circles broke and the magic dissipated.

Sagging a little at the spread-out use of magic, I rested myself on a wall with my right arm. I really needed to work on my circles. I had pushed my magic work aside for too long. My magic reserves were ok, good even, but I hadn't even touched the very basic circles I worked with since I started my training. They were too wasteful. I took note of that as I took a deep breath in and steeled myself to continue going down the stairs. I really hoped there wouldn't be any more traps.

As I made it to the end of the stairs, I was received by a long corridor with doors on both sides. Slowly making my way forward I started opening the doors. They seemed to be bedrooms for the Strays. After some long and annoyingly painful minutes I had opened what seemed to be all the bedrooms. What followed that were a couple of bathrooms, I guessed that they were for both males and females. The place had obviously been done while their numbers where low and they still had their sanity pretty much intact. After that there was a common hall and the last door, which was another stair case down.

"Ha!" Was the first thing I heard as I arrived to the last step of the stairs. "Our people did a number on you, didn't they, shitty Devil?!" Came the mocking voice of what was obviously a male Youkai.

In front of me was another corridor, this time instead of walls and doors there were just cell bars with the odd cell door. I turned my head to the left to look at the Youkai that had spoken and blinked. For a second I was caught off guard by its appearance. A kamaitachi, the weasel Youkai. It was tied to the wall by a collar, otherwise he could easily walk right through the cell bars.

"Considering the circumstances." I started looking around to see the other Youkais. Some were in pretty bad shape. They were probably the ones that had been captured first. "I won't take offense to that. I'm not a Stray, I'm working with Yasaka." I explained making sure they all could hear me. Some perked up at the name of their leader. The weasel scoffed.

"Like I would believe that." He said, distrust written all over his face. Who would have thought a weasel could be so expressive?

"Can someone point me to where the keys are saved?" I asked ignoring the guy and looking right into the eyes of a kitsune Youkai that was hiding a young child behind her. My blood boiled for a second at the sight before I focused on her thoughts. At the end of the corridor, just great. Gritting my teeth, I started walking towards the place.

"So that you can come inside and have some fun?!" Yelled the kamaitachi as I slowly made my way past him. "Come back here, you Devil scum! I'm not finished with you!"

"You want me to get angry at you so I won't go after anyone else." Just looking at his injuries I could tell that it wasn't the first time he had done that. "It's useless, I'm not part of the group that captured you. I'm here to get all of you out of here, just you wait." A metallic sound told me the weasel had run until the chain in his neck stopped him.

Even with that, nobody actually answered the question to where the keys were. It was a good thing I didn't need the info, as I had already gotten it, otherwise it would have been troublesome to get the keys. Still, my injuries kept me from going too fast, or at all. By the time I had arrived to where the keys where, on a table right next to a chair that had been used to guard the prisoners most probably, I was sweating bullets and barely stood on my feet.

"Damnit." I muttered under my breath as I made my way to the first cell door. "Get out, free the others." I told the ones behind that door. They were a pair of nekomatas that were most definitely twins. They were instantly on their feet and as I opened the doors, they shot out taking the keys from me so fast I didn't even notice.

I sat on the floor leaning on the bars trying to regain some strength as I saw the twins start opening doors and Youkais walk out of the cells. Taking deep breaths, I took a circle out of my pocket and called.

"Verstand?" Asked Yasaka after a few seconds. She sounded tired.

"I'm with the hostages, just a little more." I informed her.

"You don't sound well." She replied with a worried tone.

"I was stupid, but I'll be ok." I turned to the corridor. "Everyone is out of the cells. We are getting out of here, just give me a minute or two to be safe."

"Ok. Thanks, Vestand. I owe you one." She said.

"And don't you forget it." I said hanging up. I couldn't in good conscience actually ask her for something. But I was too annoyed because of my injuries and my stupidity to care. Pushing myself to stand, I saw that most of the Youkai were already making their way up the stairs with the exception of the twins that I had freed first, the kamaitachi and one kitsune youkai.

"You look like shit." Commented the weasel Youkai. I chuckled painfully.

"Yeah, stupid mistake." I said, dragging my feet through the corridor towards the stairs while I leaned on the bars with my right hand. Everything that had happened during the day was taking its toll on me. The battle in Yasaka's home, the flight, the trap, the magic, everything had piled together on me. That is, until I felt someone take my right arm and put it around their neck. I turned to see one of the twins. "Thanks."

"No, thank you." She said softly.

"I would do it myself but I'm worse than you." The weasel said.

"Doesn't have anything to do with you being a midget at all." I commented sarcastically. The other twin giggled behind her hand.

"I'll have you know that I'm plenty strong." He retorted.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, shrimp." I said and he just huffed as a response. I chuckled a bit turning from the small Youkai to the stairs that were already in front of me. "Let's go, Yasaka may be running out of time."

"So, it's true? You are working with Yasaka-sama?" The kitsune Youkai asked half-incredulous half-hopeful.

"I am." I confirmed. "I've been working with her the last couple of weeks. As soon as I tell her that everyone is safe, she will take out the leader of the Strays." The nekomata that was helping me walk and her sister tensed up at the mention of the Strays while the kamaitachi let out a growl. "The sooner we get out the sooner everything will be over." Everyone nodded, some stiffly, others eagerly and we made or way up the stairs twice getting out.

"We are out the base." I informed Yasaka before she could even talk. "Making our way over to your home. Have fun and kick his ass for me." I told her.

"With pleasure." Was all she said before cutting the connection. A chill ran its way down my spine at the tone of her voice. Never mess with Yasaka's people, that was a good lesson to learn.

"Ok, everyone." I started turning to the Youkais outside. Most of the released hostages were already gone it seemed. I could understand why they didn't wait for me though. "Stand near me. I'll teleport us to Yasaka's temple." While I took some deep breaths in preparation to what surely would be a tiring trip, I saw some nods and received some affirmative replies. A couple of seconds later I was on the clearing where I had fought the Strays. They had already been taken care of, it seemed.

"Dantalion-sama." One of Yasaka's servants said as we appeared. And with that the darkness surrounded me and I lost consciousness.

**[}-o-{]**

"You are an idiot."

"For the last time. I _know_." I said groaning.

"Doesn't change the fact that you are an idiot." I groaned even loader. Raev just wouldn't shut up about how I got myself injured with a stupid trap since I woke up in my room.

"Idiot." This time it was Kunou who talked. She was sitting next to my bed puffing her cheeks and looking like she would start crying any time. I let out a tired sigh.

"I know." I said, this time not full of annoyance but shame. "It won't happen again. I was reckless." I admitted.

"Next time you leave me here to bore myself to death while you go have your fun, you'll have to take responsibility." I suppressed the need to groan once again. Of _course_, that was what pissed Raev off. But she wasn't fooling anyone. She was also worried. Deep deep down, but she was.

I looked up as I felt Kunou touching my right hand, her soft little hands wrapping around mine. Silence permeated the room as she started putting more and more strength on her hold. Raev and I shared a look before our eyes settled on the little girl that was looking down at my hand with a frown.

"I like you, Onii-chan." She said softly in a whisper. "I like you being here." She continued, she seemed to be trying pretty hard to not let her voice crack. "Neither you nor Raev-neesan look at me for what I am but _who_ I am." She explained. "To you, I'm not the… nine-tailed princess." She said, poison that shouldn't be there in the voice of a little girl made its presence known. "I'm just Kunou to you." She looks at me with a barely noticeable smile.

"And my new little sister." I said softly squeezing her hands with mine. "Don't forget about that."

"Hm." She hummed, nodding while a small tear escaped her eyes. "I don't have to be a princess with you." She continued. "Mother always says that I should act more like a girl and less like a princess." At that her gaze left me and seemed to look at something we couldn't see. Something only she could see. "But I can't." A sad frown appeared on her face. "Because all the time I feel their gazes. Servants, guards, people. All of them have their eyes on me. And I have seen it, their disappointed stares as I do something… unbecoming." I felt the urge to throttle those people. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Raev still leaning against the wall lazily. But I also saw her knife. It was floating right at eye-level, pointing forward and trembling, as if wanting to stab something… _someone_.

"But you didn't care." Kunou spoke again, after seemingly having regained a bit of her composure. "You _wanted_ me to stop acting like a princess. Just like mum." She said softly, her lips quirking up ever so slightly. "I like you being here." She concluded once again. "So…" Her voice trembled a little. "So, don't scare me like that." She finished with a sob as a new pair of tears traveled down on her face.

I freed my hand from her grasp and used it to bring her into a one-armed hug. "Never again." I said putting my chin on top of her head.

"Promise." She said weakly, her words muffled against my chest.

"Promise." I replied.

"I'll hold you to that." My eyes darted to the door. Yasaka was leaning against it with sadness written all over her face, probably because she heard what her daughter said. Said girl just continued burying her face in my chest while clinging to my shirt. After a second the older woman turned her eyes to me and gave me a grateful nod before entering the room and sitting next to her daughter. "How are you feeling?"

"I barely feel the burns anymore." I answered honestly. "Everything else is alright. Raev and your guards will be getting spars with me in no time." I informed with a smirk that she returned.

"Glad to hear it." She said sounding truly reassured. "I hope you'll be staying a little longer than planned." She started. Kunou perked up at that. Yasaka smiled softly at her daughter. "We know your company will be appreciated. I would also like for you to have better memories from my territory than constant Stray attacks."

"I think we can stay an extra week." I replied with a smile. When my eyes turned to her, Raev just gave me a shrug as a response. I could bet on her not caring as long as she got to battle. "On that logic, I have to improve your view on Devils too." I continued turning to the Kyuubi.

"Don't worry." She reassured me. "My people are more than aware of your involvement on the rescue of the hostages as well as aiding me against the Strays." She informed me. "Some of the Youkai you rescued have been speaking quite highly of you to everyone. Some even want to meet with you, they wish to express their gratitude personally." That brought a smile to my face. I really wanted to get on the good graces of the Youkai. The better our relationship was the safer my little sisters would be.

"I'm glad and I'll happily meet with them." I answered.

"The extra time will also help me find a suitable reward." I blinked and tilted my head in confusion. "Don't look at me like that. You helped free my people, lent a hand to us when we were in need. I can't, in good conscience, let you go without a proper reward."

"Yasaka." I said slowly. "You know I had a reason for what I did. It wasn't purely to help you. We didn't even do much." She smiled at me like an adult speaking with a particularly stupid kid. My eyebrow twitched.

"Silly boy. You think I don't know you had other reasons?" She said giggling to herself. "I know that. But that doesn't change the fact that you helped when you could have gone on your way and left me to deal with them. I know you know I would have done so eventually." Then she looked at Kunou who had decided to sit on the bed next to me, snuggling into my chest. She looked like she could fall asleep like that. The meaningful look the Kyuubi sent her daughter told me that it was also a thanks for what we had done for her daughter.

"I guess it would be rude to reject the reward?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It would." She said with a satisfied nod and I suppressed a sigh. Well, who was I to say no to a reward from the Kyuubi? I could only hope that she wouldn't go overboard with it.

After that we made some small talk until Kunou was asleep. Then we started to talk about the Strays. All of them had been dealt with. Apparently, the pseudo-King had a high-tear Sacred Gear that allowed an impressive level of water manipulation, not to mention that the holder seemed to be particularly skilled in its use. That's how they had killed all the captured Strays, the guy used the water in the very air to kill them. Personally, I was just glad Yasaka was the one to deal with him and not me.

She also took some time to inform me of how every one of the hostages was doing now that they were free. They all seemed to have returned to their homes. Although, the ones that had been there the longest had to get Senjutsu treatment to take care of injuries as well as help to recover from the trauma.

During that part of the talk, Kunou woke up and we decided to let the serious talk end for the moment. Neither of us wanted to dampen the mood of the little girl. Instead we opted for some games to spent time. It didn't take long before a sore loser started complained about cheating.

**[}-o-{]**

"I knew it." I said disbelievingly. "I just knew you would go overboard." I clarified shaking my hand. "But this?!" I exclaimed shaking my hand signaling Yasaka's reward.

"You are overreacting." She said waving off my comment.

"Uh-huh." I looked at her incredulously. "Because Mono-hoshi-zao is just a common sword. Not special at all."

"Well…" She trailed off not looking at me.

"Yasaka…"

"It's not as great a reward actually." She said and she continued after seeing that I wasn't buying it. "It _is_ a Demonic sword, you know? And even if you are a Devil, it's will still affect you negatively. So, considering pros and cons, I'd say it's a fine reward."

I narrowed my eyes for a second before sighing. It wasn't as if she was _wrong_. It just felt really weird to receive a famous (or infamous?) Demonic sword as a reward for doing some patrol and releasing some unguarded hostages while almost killing myself out of stupidity. However, there was a limit to how much I could take.

"And that?" I said pointing at a dagger that was on the side of the legendary nodachi.

"Oh that." She said dismissively. "That one is neither Holy nor Demonic. It's just a normal dagger, better than average, but normal all the same." I suppressed the need to sigh again.

"Oh, relax, Vers." Raev said from her spot next to me. She hadn't even looked at me as she talked. Her gaze was fixed on the dagger. I had already thought about giving it to her so I guessed we could take both as a reward for the peerage instead of just me. I was sure that was Yasaka's idea from the beginning anyway.

"Ok ok. Seeing as I'm outnumbered, I guess I'll just shut up." I grumbled under my breath.

"Much better." Said the Kyuubi while patting my head. I narrowed my eyes at her before turning to the sword.

Mono-hoshi-zao, a nodachi with a length of a meter and a half. It didn't have anything spectacular really, aside from its impressive, borderline excessive, length. The scabbard as well as the handle were dark blue, the later of which had golden details. It lacked a guard and a pair of dark blue strings connected with the golden pommel. It was simple, but beautiful all the same.

The dagger on the other hand, could easily pass as a short sword. It looked like a stylized double-edged Chinese sword. That last detail was one of the reasons for which I thought Yasaka didn't have a problem giving it away. The handle was maroon with a golden pommel and guards both of which had small emeralds edged in them. Over all it was a beautiful blade.

My gaze went from the dagger to my Knight once again and I had to make an effort not to chuckle.

"Go ahead." I told her. "You know you want to." This time I did chuckle. As soon as I had said 'go', she had taken the sword/dagger and run inside. "I think she liked it." Both Yasaka and Kunou giggled at that. "Thank you. We both really appreciate it." I told her honestly.

"Just make sure to visit from time to time." The Kyuubi replied, earning a hopeful look from her daughter.

"Of course, we will." I told her as if it was an obvious thing, which it kind of was. "We may even come with some new peerage members. Just in case Kunou gets bored of her Onii-chan." To which said girl huffed and turned away. I chuckled. Then I turned to the Demonic blade again. "Well, I'll have to adapt my training to this sword now, I guess."

"Which reminds me." Yasaka said instantly gaining my attention. She pulled out a scroll that she offered me. "This has all the information on Mono-hoshi-zao that we have. Should make it easier for you."

"Yes, that's definitely useful. Thank you." I said taking the scroll and starting to skim over it to get an idea of the blade. As I continued to read the scroll a grin started to grow on my face. Oh, I could definitely work with this sword.

"Vestand!" That shout interrupted my read as I quickly took the scroll and sword and put them both on my hammer-space. With both safe Yasaka, Kunou and I ran inside to see what happened to Raev.

"What is it?!" I asked nervous.

"Look at this!" Was the only reply I got as my Knight waved her hands at the floating knives.

"What's the prob…lem?" Then my eyes widened as my eyes locked with the knives. _Knives_, in plural. Both her old knife and her new dagger were floating in the air. "What?"

"You see!" Raev said her expression and tone showing both surprise and disbelieve.

"How?" I asked still dumbfounded by what I was seeing.

"I don't know. I did the ritual to bond with the new dagger and when I tried to move it, I felt both of them." She explained to me. Both of us continued to talk with our eyes fixed on the floating weapons.

"How does the ritual work?" I asked this time.

"It's simple. It stretches our magic outside the body into the weapons binding it to them." She explained quickly, impatient to make some sense out of the situation. "If the user already has a bonded weapon then that bond is supposed to cut itself as the new one takes a hold."

"Then why…" And then my eyes widened again as I turned to my Knight. "That's why." I said as I started to grin. Raev turned to me with a look that urged me to explain. "That's why the value was seven." This time it was her eyes that widened. "This is your trait variant. Multiple binding."

Then we both turned to each other. The same thought passing through our minds.

"Yasaka." I said still looking directly at my Knight. "Do you have some more of those daggers for me to buy?"

**[} Chapter End {]**

**Hey guys! How's it going?**

Well, this chapter took longer than I thought. I don't really have an excuse for the delay either. Truth is, I was reading fanfics. This last week I introduced myself to the wonders of some crossover fandoms (Percy Jackson/MCU or /DC universe or /Young Justice and also Harry Potter/ those same fandoms. No Percy Jackson/Harry Potter though, I don't see those too working too well together).

With that said, I don't _think_ I'll find something new to read anytime soon so I should get the next chapter relatively soon. At least I hope so. And hopefully I can get rid of the urge to write an MCU or Young Justice fanfic sometime soon. It's messing with my ideas.

Anyhow, as I know that I suck at descriptions I'll tell you the designs of the weapons introduced this chapter. **Mono-Hoshi-Zao** has the same design of Assassin's blade on Fate Stay Night. As for **Raev's Daggers**, they are the same design as those of Irelia Divine Sword.

I had some plans for this arc that I decided to change. In case you were wondering, I was going to introduce peerage member/s here but I changed my mind. With this the peerage is back to a semi decided state. If you want to **suggest someone for the peerage** feel free to do it. Just make sure it's a **canon character**, it can be a minor character, hell, it can even be an extra that appeared just once. But it has to be a canon one.

That's all for the notes. Please, leave a review. I always like to receive feedback of any kind. It's a really good motivator for me to continue writing.

**See you.**


	8. Back Home

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Highschool DxD.

**Back Home**

"Damn it!"

"Must you speak like that, young woman?"

"We are Devils for fucks sake!"

"That's no excuse to forget your manners." I continued to mock Raev. She groaned again before sending me another flying knife. I chuckled to myself while parrying it with Mono-hoshi-zao, Zao for short. Let's be honest here, the name was a mouthful.

I had taken to the sword like a fish to water. Souji-sensei was proud of my outstanding progress with the sword. But really, we were just pretty well matched.

After getting past the bloodlust that the Demonic sword inherently induced, I had been able to access it's ability. As explained by the scroll that Yasaka had given me along with it, the sword literally taught the user how to best use it.

It wasn't like Zao was actually speaking though. It could only communicate feelings to me, and even that was very limited, approval, disapproval and little else. Getting the hang of it was a slow process, but with some help from Souji-sensei, I had managed to learn the Demonic sword's style. We weren't sure if the style was created by previous users and the sword passed it to the new ones or if it had been created by the sword itself. The scrolls didn't explain that either.

Now, onto the reason for me good match with Zao. It was pretty simple. I could better understand it, if only just a little, because of my trait. I couldn't read it like anyone else's mind, obviously. However, after having other people's emotions brought into my mind so regularly, getting a hold of what the feelings Zao send me meant wasn't so difficult.

I had also found something else out. Souji-sensei wasn't the only slave driver in my training now. Zao was never content with my speed. She always wanted to go a little farther, a little stronger and definitely a lot faster. I could feel the sword begging me to be faster in every way possible. I had gotten the message though, and now sensei had adapted my training for speed more than anything. My sword would be a happy one. Once I achieved that, I was sure I would have the strength that I wished.

"How can you fight like this with something so damn long?!" Shouted my frustrated Knight after I continued blocking her for a full minute.

"It's just that amazing." I commented chuckling to myself. After she had somewhat caught up to me with the addition of her Knight boost, it felt great to once more wipe the floor with her. "Seems like you just have to train harder, lady." And that was an honest advice. Just by training her trait variant she could easily catch up with me once again.

After thinking about it and asking Souji-sensei and my siblings for advice, we had arrived to the conclusion that it was safer for her to get used to two knives before trying to use even more. After two weeks of training she had added another one, which was the point at where she was now. We speculated that in another month she could try adding another. The more knives she used the more time she seemed to need to get used to them. It made sense, really. Each knife was like adding another finger for her to be aware of.

"Let's end the training here, shall we?" I said after an hour of sparring. She let out a whine even if her body seemed more than willing to rest. Her knees gave up as soon as the words had left my mouth and she fell to the floor. "You know, we spar every day, one would think you wouldn't complain so much each time we have to stop."

"If it were for me, we would spar every waking moment." She said with a completely straight face. And I believed her, she was that much of a battle maniac. I could only shake my head at her. I wasn't really complaining though, I liked that about her. I would be able to count on her for every battle I would surely need to fight in the future. It didn't make it less tiring for me. I really wanted more peerage members, if only so that I wouldn't be the only option Raev had for spars. I already missed the Youkai guards.

Anyway, after I dragged Raev out of our training dimension and bathed I went to the sitting room only to find a stack of papers on the table. I groaned at the sight of them. That was one of my punishments.

What punishments? Well…

**[}-o-{]**

"So, we leave you go to the human world for the first time." Ajuka started.

"And not only do you get dragged into a situation completely out of your league." Sirzechs continued.

"But you also didn't want to tell us." Serafall said pouting.

That was the sight that received me once I came back to my apartment. My siblings were sitting on the table. Ajuka at the head, Sirzechs at the right and Serafall at the left. It was a really intimidating sight. So, I wish I am excused if I froze and started sweating bullets. Of course, Raev was snickering right behind me.

"You see-"

"We have already decided a punishment." Ajuka interrupted my excuse… I mean, completely reasonable explanation.

"Wait-"

"I'll tell Souji to up your training." I paled.

"I'll start preparing you to be a Magical Guardian~." Said a cheerful Serafall forming the peace sign with her fingers. I knew what that meant, magical training. Magical training with a Maou… I was going to die.

"I'm sure-"

"And I'll regularly send you different scenarios for you to analyze and solve." Ajuka added his piece. By this time, I was trembling like a leave and my face was ashen. "You won't be caught off guard ever again."

"Ok-"

"Furthermore," Sirzechs continued. I was already fearing for my life. "You won't go out of this city until we think you are ready." He declared and the three of them nodded resolutely.

"Sur-"

"We were so worried!" Serafall seemed to finally give in and tackled me in a hug that easily did more damage than I had received during my whole little adventure in Japan. Raev for her part was laughing her ass off.

**[}-o-{]**

Gulping just from the memory, I made my way to the table and started going through the different situations that Ajuka had come up with for me to work with. They ranged from reasonable situations that I could easily see happening to dealing with mad gods from several pantheons and Longinus holders that had gone completely off the deep end. Personally, I thought he went a little overboard but I definitely wouldn't be the one to complain to him.

He had also told me that once a month he would test me personally and I would have to solve different scenarios without time to think. It was so that I would be able to think on my feet. It was reasonable, but not any less annoying. I wouldn't utter a word though, all this would be useful, no matter how much I hated it.

Serafall also kept her word. Despite the fact that she didn't have the time to train me often, she had sent me a training schedule to improve both my magic and my reserves. I wasn't crazy enough to go against it considering that she would spar with me once a week to test my progress. I didn't want to think what she would do if I slacked off and didn't meet her expectations. I wasn't bold enough or crazy enough to try my luck.

Raev, the crazy woman that she was, had also willingly started doing the same routine for magical training. She did need much larger reserves in order to use more knives and also improve her already impressive control even more to better take advantage of all her weapons. I envied her drive for training.

Souji-sensei for his part… Well, let's just say that my proficiency with Zao was a life saver. I shuddered to think where I would be if I only had a normal sword to use.

With a sigh I refocused on the papers in front of me. Or tried to, as Raev chose that moment to start snickering behind me. With a groan I turned to glare at her.

"Would it kill you let me do this in peace?" I asked annoyed.

"Maybe, can I die of boredom?" She asked clearly amused. I just gave her a dry look.

"I seriously need to get a place with a study next time." I grumbled to myself.

"Well, one would think a noble would have something bette-." She commented before shutting up and looking at me with concern in her eyes. That look didn't suit her at all.

"I have a better place." I said, my voice suddenly in a much lower tone. "We didn't lose everything in the war. I still have a manor and a big enough piece of land. We-I am not rich, but I can provide for my full peerage and a bit more." I told her, my voice hollow of all emotion. I knew I had to tell her. If I didn't tell this kind of thing to her then who was I supposed to?

"I see." She said. I could see that she didn't know what to say without needing to read her mind.

"I just…" I decided to continue talking. "I just decided to leave the place. It was too empty and it had too many memories of the past. Every minute was a torture there." I explained. "But we'll go there eventually. I just want more people with me when I decide to. I want as much life inside the manor as possible. I won't feel alone inside my own home." I finished, a bit of steel slipping into my tone. She gave me a nod looking completely uncomfortable.

"You didn't-"

"I know." I interrupted. "But you are my Knight. You are part of House Dantalion now. As such you deserve to know." Her expression suddenly became complicated even for me before she gave me a small smile.

"Of course." And with that she went into her room. I smiled to myself turning once more to the papers.

**[}-o-{]**

"You are awesome, Verz!" Squealed an excited Rias as I gave her the presents I had bought while in Japan. You have three guesses as to what they were and the first two don't count.

"I know I am. But keep saying it." I said cheekily and she didn't even roll her eyes at me. That was how much she liked the gifts. We both couldn't keep the grins off our faces. I was just happy to see her happy.

"How did you even know what to buy?" She asked, curiosity written all over her face. I scratched the back of my neck.

"Well, I didn't." I admitted looking to the side. "I just asked some Youkais and one of them pointed the stuff out to me. It took us a whole day to pick everything with what little I knew about what you like." It had been a stressful day. I could only thank the stars for the Youkais gratitude that had driven the one to guide me to have patience while buying manga.

"They are amazing, all of them." She told me, still grinning from ear to ear. I gave her a bright smile.

"I'm glad. I was a bit nervous." I replied and she gave me another hug.

"… Youkai?" I turned to see Koneko. Oh, right. She is a bit on edge with everything related to Youkai and Senjutsu.

"Yeah, I spent the month in Japan. I had to scout the place for my little sister here." I answered patting Rias hed to which she pouted cutely at me. "Two of those weeks I was living among the Youkai from the West faction. They were pretty nice. Even helped Raev and me train."

"Raev?" Rias asked confused. My grin widened.

"Raev Corson. Also known as my Knight." I replied and her eyes widened.

"Your Knight? As in, your _mutated_ Knight?" I just nodded at her and she couldn't keep the dumbfounded expression of her face for a full minute. It was amusing.

"… How where they?" Koneko asked this time. I suppressed the need to sigh. I needed to talk to her anyway. But now wasn't the moment. Not with Rias, Akeno and… huh?

"Hi? Who are you?" I asked curiously. I hadn't even noticed the guy until that moment. He stood on the opposite wall from the door leaning against it. He had short blond hair and blue eyes.

"Gremory-sama's new toy." He said, his voice as cold as ice. I turned slowly to Rias.

"Explain." I said instantly as she fidgeted under my gaze. She instantly crumbled.

"We were out for a week on holidays…" and she proceeded to tell me the tale of her new Knight. I could only sigh as she finished with the fact that he was clearly not fond of her idea to reincarnate him. How did she manage to find so much trouble with the people around her? I didn't even know if I should call it good luck or bad luck.

"Ok… ok." I said slowly, my thoughts running as fast as I could manage. I looked up cursing the day I had decided that Rias Gremory would be my little sister. I turned to the guy, who was in turn looking at us with steel in his eyes. A quick peek told me that not all the hatred was directed to us. We were just the closest thing to bent it on. "You are a Knight now." I stated. He turned to me. His gaze positively murderous. "Do you know how to use a sword?" I didn't expect him to answer and he didn't. I had my answer anyway. "Come with me."

"Or what?" He spat instantly.

"Or I'll kick your ass all the way to where I'm going." I said simply. He produced a sword but before he could point it at me Zao was already under his chin. "You have your options, what do you choose?" I asked plainly. The others in the room looking between us with shocked expressions, well, Koneko only had her eyes slightly widened.

"I'll go." He said finally through his teeth. When his sword vanished, I returned my sword to the hammer space.

"Good choice." I replied already walking outside not even turning around to see if he followed. If he didn't though… "Raev?" I said once she had picked up my call.

[This better be good, Verstand.] She said, annoyance clear in her voice. [I am in the middle of my training and you know it.] I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"I have a guy here that needs to get his ass handed to him." I informed her. "Are you up for it?"

[A fight?] All the anger disappears, replaced by eagerness. I chuckled to myself. [Count me in.]

"I'll summon you in a second, be ready."

[Don't keep me waiting.] Was all she said.

"Now, you…" I started pointing at Kiba. "You have way too much anger in you right now. A spar should help you get it out of your system."

"Uh-huh. What are you, a mind reader?" He said mockingly.

"Actually. I am." I stated simply. He sneered at me.

"Like I'm gonna-"

"Excalibur." He tensed up at the sole mention of the word.

"You-How-"

"I can read minds." I raised an eyebrow at him. Then I placed a flier on the floor, ready to summon Raev. With a flash of light, the indigo-haired girl was standing beside me. "That's the guy. One knife." I told her and she grinned at me.

"Aye aye, captain." She said cheerfully bringing her hand up and a knife instantly floated right next to it in the air. "I hope you are ready pretty boy." Said boy was still looking at me with a mixture of anger and surprise. It made for a funny expression really. Sadly, the occasion wasn't one for laughs. He barely was able to dodge the knife that went flying at him before he summoned a sword in his hand once again.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Rias asked me, concern clear in her eyes as she looked over the fight. The others had followed too, Koneko sat quietly at the stairs munching on some unlucky snacks.

"Not really. I'm no psychologist, but I do know that he would have blown up at some point." I said calmly looking at the Knights. Raev was just toying with the poor blonde.

"I understand that, but…"

"Don't worry. Raev won't hurt him too much. She is good enough to tone down her blows." I reassured her. At least I hoped my Knight would…

"… About the Youkai." Koneko decided to say at that point. I sighed. I would have some words with Sirzechs about leaving our sister with a bunch of mentally unstable children.

"Right, follow me. I wanted to talk with you in private." Rias looked at me with a curious expression. "You keep an eye on those two, just in case they cut off something important." Her head instantly snapped back to the fight. With that both the Nekoshou and I walked our way far enough to talk without been overheard.

I took a moment to gather my thoughts while looking at the impassive white-haired girl. I had talked about her case with Yasaka and we both had doubts about it. There where holes all over the entire situation.

"Koneko." I said completely serious, she just kept staring into my eyes. "Was your sister good at Senjutsu?" I asked directly. There was no point in beating around the bush. Her eyes widened before they turned even more cold than usual.

"… She was the best." She stated, I could almost _feel_ the venom in her voice. I cursed internally. That just proved our point. Now, how do you tell a little girl that her convict sister may be innocent? Or that she may be even more of a criminal because she killed their master without losing control?

"How was she?" I decided to continue asking. I needed more information. "Before the incident, I mean."

"…" Koneko looked down, her hair hiding most of her expression from me as I looked down at her. "She was the best." She repeated, this time with a completely different meaning. "She would always… help me, she always looked out for me. She always cared…" Her voice started cracking. "Why?" She said finally, the desperation clear both in her voice and her mind as she looked at me. Tears were already traveling down her face.

"I believe…" I started slowly. "That your sister loves you." I further confirmed my point as I saw glimpses of the dark-haired Nekoshou in Koneko's mind. That kind of love couldn't be faked. The golden eyes that were locked in mine widened. "I believe there's more to your sister's case than we know. But the only one who knows is her." I explained.

"So…" She trailed off suddenly dispirited. "So, we'll never know. She could lie-"

"Not necessarily." I interrupted her and she looked at me instantly once again. "I'm a mind reader, remember?" I said with a small grin. Her eyes seemed to try to tell me how much she wanted me to help. I could see that. "I believe she will come for you at some point. Whether she is innocent or not, she will." I assured her. "And then I'll get the truth out of her. That's a promise." I said patting her white hair lightly. She looked down and didn't say anything for a while. My hand moved back and put both of them inside my pockets as I waited for her to say something.

"… Thanks." Was the reply I got after five minutes. I smiled a little, even if she couldn't see me with her eyes down.

"Don't mention it." I said softly as I started walking back to the others. "I'll leave you so you can calm yourself and keep the others away too." I informed. That was my plan at least. A soft tug from my shirt stopped me on my tracks. I turned my head to see her holding it in her tiny hand.

"… Can I go with you?" She asked, her voice barely a whisper.

"Of course." I reassured her, still with a soft tone. "I just thought you would need a minute to-"

"Can I go with you?" She repeated and I my mouth closed instantly. "Be… with you? I'm a Rook. I'm strong." She continued. Her voice weaker with each word. My eyes widened before I smiled sadly.

"You know I'll help you even if you don't do that." I reassured her. She nodded her head stiffly.

"You are… nice." Her voice surprisingly soft compared to her tense body.

"Well, that's good to hear. But still-"

"I want to go with you." She made my shut up once again. I looked at her and her eyes raised so that gold clashed against amber. I took a peek into her eyes and sighed.

"Sure. Welcome to the family." I said patting her head once again while given her a tentative smile. She surprised me returning one of her own, although a barely visible one. It did wonders to reassure me that I was doing the right thing for this girl.

After a moment we both made our way back to the others. My hand still on her head petting her lightly. Despite the fact that I couldn't hear it, I could _feel_ her humming contently through my hand. It warmed my heart. I was sure it would be one of my favorite things to do pretty quickly.

"Well, how did it go?" I asked unnecessarily. The blonde was on the floor gasping for breath while Raev was leisurely twirling her knife in the air.

"It was even easier than I thought. But it was fun, I guess." My Knight answered lazily.

"Was there a point to this?" The guy asked angrily. It lost a lot of strength with him looking dead on his feet though.

"I didn't quite see everything that happened to you." I started and saw him tense up. "And I don't really care. That's your story to tell. I just had to make sure you wouldn't put my little sister in danger." I explained to him. He didn't look like he believed me but I didn't really care enough. "What's your problem with my sister?" I asked. I knew, but I had to start the discussion somewhere.

"She made me her slave! What do you think?!" He shouted. I took a deep breath in.

"So, you would prefer to be dead?" I asked. He looked directly into my eyes.

"Yes." I saw Rias flinch in the corner of my eyes. "Then I would be with my friends." I had seen something about that too. They died.

"Don't you want justice for them?" I continued questioning. This time he seemed taken aback.

"I… don't have the power." He said, suddenly all the anger left his eyes replaced by sorrow. "I would love to seek the Excaliburs and destroy them all. To hunt the ones that experimented on us only to murder us, every single one of them. I would like nothing more than to do that." He continued, looking at the floor as tears rolled down his cheeks. I was dealing with way too much crap in a single day, I thought to myself.

"Well, the Excaliburs are certainly out of reach even if you reached Maou level." I said bluntly. He balled his hands into fists in frustration. "The ones that did the experiments though." He looked up with wide eyes at that, urging me to continue. "Those could be dealt with. If you had enough information to expose them, or maybe simply killing them. I'm sure the church wouldn't make too much of a fuss over people like them."

"Is… is that true." He said hesitantly.

"I believe so." I said firmly. "Do you still want to die pointlessly?" I asked.

"I… I want them to pay for what they did." He said, the fire back in his eyes. His hate though, wasn't directed at us this time. I smirked.

"Well, we can certainly help with that." I said conversationally. His eyes were locked in me. I signaled Rias with my hand. "Her brother's Knight is an amazing swordsman. He has been training me. And I'm way better than Raev." I ignored said Knight's protest at the last statement. "I'm sure she can get you your own training with the man." Then the guy turned to my crimson-haired sister before taking a deep breath in and standing up. He then bowed down as much as he could.

"Please, help me." He said, his voice as eager as it sounded desperate. Rias could only smile nervously looking between him and me.

"Of course." I smiled at her and it seemed to help her relax.

**[}-o-{]**

It was night already. We had spent the rest of the time small talking. We all had had enough serious talks for a day. I had taken a minute to talk to Sirzechs about Koneko and he had said there wouldn't be a problem at all. I took that to mean that he would deal with any kind of trouble anyone foolish enough tried to bring on us.

With his blessing, I proceeded to do the ritual that would switch Koneko's Rook piece for one of mine. Normally the piece would be given back to the owner but… well. Once we were back to the apartment, we gave the little girl the one remaining free room. If I recruited anyone else, I would have to look for a new place, I thought to myself.

With that in mind I sat on the edge of my bed looking at the night table. My mind seemed to go blank before focusing on a piece of paper that sat innocently on the wood. The message in it was anything but innocent thought. That piece of paper had been right in that spot when I came back from Japan. Nobody knew about it, not even Raev. And I was, for once, grateful to be the last Dantalion. Nobody would know about the note if I had any say in the matter.

The message read:

_Your mother's last words were: "You got us, but Verstand will live."_

_Stay out of our way and those words will remain true._

_-KB_

**[} Chapter End {]**

**Hey guys! How's it going?**

Well, there goes another chapter. I can't seem to make up my mind about the peerage for Verstand. I keep switching people in and out. So, that may make me leave this series on the side a bit while I get my ideas in order. I have the next little arc pretty much decided though, so that won't be a problem for a while.

About the chapter, some people will probably think I could have done Koneko and Yuuto's parts in separated chapters, that's true. But I quite like how it ended up being. I would appreciate a review with your thoughts.

I hope you liked the chapter. The next one will be for The Unknown Character.

**See you.**


	9. Supporting Family

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Highschool DxD.

**Supporting Family**

"Everything will be ok, Rias" I said softly. She just cried harder as a reply. I kept whispering encouragements to her while gently caressed her crimson hair.

"It'll be horrible. He… He will-"

"Do nothing." I said with steel in my voice. "He will do nothing. Because if he does anything, and I do mean anything, to upset you I will personally deal with him. Zao has been a little restless lately anyway." I said smirking. She gave a short chuckle at that.

"You'll be there, won't you?" She said, her voice muffled against my chest.

"Always, Rias. Always." I said taking her head and making her look at me. "I'll always be there. Just give me a call and I'll make the world rotate the other way for you." A watery smile slowly but surely made its way into her face.

"Thanks, Verz." She said once more burying her head in my chest.

"That's what a brother is for." I said softly. She said nothing but I was just glad she had stopped working. Looking up, I resisted the urge to sigh.

Today was going to be a messy day no matter what. Phenex had organized a party that was supposed to look like a Gremory-Phenex coordinated party. It was the final bit that they needed for the Gremory to give up breaking the contract. They had slowly built their pressure on Zeoticus up to the point that anything that Zeoticus made against the contract would look bad, really bad. And now they were doing the final push.

Saying no to the party would ruin the Gremory. Years of little things and pressure would fall on them courtesy of the Phenex. There was nothing they could do anymore. I was sure Zeoticus was consoling Venelana much as I was Rias. Grayfia was sure to be dealing with a very pissed and very frustrated Sirzechs as he was powerless to do anything to support his sister.

Turning my head, I saw Rias's peerage. Her Queen looked honestly sad and ready to give her King a hug if she so much as took a step away from me. The Knight's expression was complicated. I was sure there were a lot of conflicting emotions raging inside him. He was still rebelling against his reincarnation after all. Through the last few months, he had slowly improved his attitude and seemed to be accepting his situation, if Souji-sensei was to be believed. But it was sure to confuse him if he suddenly started to worry about his King.

Rias's Bishop was absent. That wasn't a surprise. He never left his room. Even I had never seen him. I wondered if I would ever meet him at this point.

"We should start getting ready." Zeoticus said from the door. Our eyes locked and I didn't even need to read his mind to know what he was thinking. I just nodded and he nodded back. Rias and I stood from the couch and her Queen took my place embracing her as they both made their way to her room. I turned to face the Knight, Kiba Yuuto.

"Kiba." I called, the steel back in my voice. He stood straight and faced me, his expression showing nothing. But I saw I his eyes the nervousness creeping inside him. He was afraid of me ever after his 'spar' with Raev. He was sure to think we both were monsters. "I don't care what you think of Rias. You will behave yourself." I said simply. At that moment, I wanted him to think I was a monster. No embarrassment would be tolerated. It would destroy Rias if she lost face for the House of Gremory on top of what was happening. And I would never let that happen. My family would be happy even if I had to raid Heaven by myself.

With my piece said, I teleported back to the apartment. Raev and Koneko were waiting for me. Both seemed to straighten up as soon as they saw me. I walked up to Koneko and started petting her hair. She relaxed at that and Raev let out a breath.

"For a moment there I thought I had done something to piss you off." My Knight commented half-jokingly.

"No." I said, I couldn't quite keep the annoyance out of my voice. "But someone else did. Rias's… fiancée… is organizing a party. It cements their engagement, from today onwards there's nothing the Gremory can do to try and free her. Nothing short of a clause in the contract that states she can cancel it if she wins a Rating Game. A Rating Game against a Phenex will be nigh impossible for her." Raev nodded in understanding. "Get ready, we have a party to attend to. And probably an idiot whose ass I'll have to kick."

"Can I do it for you?" Raev said cheerfully, her eyes though, told me that she wasn't happy with this at all. She valued a woman's freedom. That was why she had gotten kicked out after all. She wanted to be free to fight. Now she was ready to fight for the freedom of another. That it was my will to do so, only made it much sweeter.

"Maybe I'll let you have some fun." I said, although there was no joke in my face. She nodded and made her way to her room.

"…I will fight too." Koneko said in a small voice.

"Koneko, you know what I thin-"

"Why don't you want me to fight?" She interrupted. "You've been trying to keep me away from any training or duty since I became part of your peerage." Well, I certainly didn't expect her to talk so much. With my eyes wide open, I was almost gaping at her.

"I… well, I…" I sighed. How to put it into words. "I still feel like you are doing all this because you feel like you owe me." I explained. "I haven't even helped you, and even then, I wouldn't expect anything in return. You don't have to do anything you don't want."

"I want to." She said stubbornly.

"Do you? Truly?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Look me in the eyes." And she did, instantly at that. I hesitated just a second before diving in her thoughts. I saw that I was right, she did feel like she owed me. I almost pulled out at that, but I decided to continue looking. Soon, I found something else. She liked being with us. I had been the one to help her out of her darkest moment. I was nice, as she had told me. So, she wanted to help me out of appreciation. She already thought of me as a friend. I pulled out. "Ok, you can train. But stay out of anything that happens tonight." I told her and I had to suppress a grin as she pouted at me.

"I can fight."

"And I have no doubt of that." I reassured her. "But you already had problems with the nobility of the Underworld. I want you to stay out of anything remotely related to them. There'll be other occasions for you to help." I explained petting her head. She wasn't pouting anymore but she looked like she wanted to. I shook my head at her. "Let's get ready, ok?"

**[}-o-{]**

"Please, tell me this is as awful to you as it is to me."

"It is." I replied curtly, my face looked like it was made of stone and so was the case for Sirzechs next to me too. The party had been going on for a few hours and neither of us could be bothered to cover our annoyance too much. Zeoticus was doing a better job at hiding it but to us it was just as obvious. I had also come to the conclusion that Venelana was a great actress.

Rias though… I wanted to sigh. She looked devastated. There was no sugarcoating it. Granted, he wasn't showing it, but nothing escapes the eye of a brother. Much less mine. And we could do next to nothing about it. The worst part of all was that she was away from us. Her seat had been placed right in the Phenex's table with Riser by her side.

"You are not letting her marry that… thing, are you?" Asked Raev by my side. Usually that seat would be reserved to my Queen but as I didn't have one and she was my first Piece she took the place.

"No." I said instantly. "She will be as far away from that guy as I can get her. That's a promise."

"Verz." Sirzechs said warningly.

"Master Dantalion should be careful with what he says." Grayfia said politely.

"Nobody is listening to me." I said dismissively. I couldn't find it in me to object to the way she called me as I usually did. "And I'm sure you would help me. No sister of mine will suffer through a marriage without love, much less something like this." I said with steel in my voice. Sirzechs just shook his head.

"At least the party is coming to an end." Zeoticus said from the other side of the table. When I looked at him, he nodded briefly. I understood.

And the older Gremory was right, soon the Phenex and the Gremory stood together to see everyone out while telling everyone how 'grateful' they were for their attendance. After a moment it was just the Gremory, the Phenex and us. I took some solace in the fact that Ruval, Rodan and Lady Phenex looked apologetic. Maybe there was hope to this family. The same could not be said for Lord Phenex, Riser and Ravel. They looked like they were enjoying themselves.

I had wanted to punch the three of them so hard throughout the party. Riser the most, he had the audacity to try and flirt and grope Rias. _'Just you wait, fire chicken.'_ I thought to myself._ 'Sometime soon you'll be trembling at the thought of me.'_

"How about a goodbye kiss, dear." Riser said moving a hand behind Rias to grab her shoulder. As he moved the panicking girl towards him, he committed his mistake. He looked at us. Most probably to see our faces. What met him was a pair of amber eyes.

As soon as he had looked at me, I dove into his mind. His thoughts open to me as I read his pleasure of knowing he had Rias as a fiancée and we couldn't do anything to him. He was enjoying himself. But this time I went further. I felt the rush of my wrath flow through the connection that my trait established. It wrapped itself around his thoughts like a python and then it squeezed. They froze much like he did in the outside world.

Rias, seeing her opportunity, got away from his grasp as her fiancée stood there frozen like time had stopped for him. The rest of both families stared at Riser for a long moment of confusion before they followed his gaze towards me. Then their eyes widened.

After Rias got away, I relaxed and my… power did too. Riser looked around, clearly confused by the absence of Rias under his arm and the stares of everyone else. I didn't let him figure out the situation.

"The Phenex family has seven members for a reason." I said coldly. All their eyes turning to me. "I hope you remember, Riser. Because if you disrespect my family, I'll show you that even the Immortal Phoenix can die."

"Do you know who you-"

"You should be the one to know who you are talking to." I interrupted Ravel immediately. "I am Verstand Dantalion, Lord of House Dantalion." I said standing straight and proud. "And if I have to, I'll pull every favor every family of the Pillars owe my family to destroy yours. Keep that in mind." I saw Lord and Lady Phenex pale from the corner of my eyes.

Yes, my family held little political power after being eradicated. But as war heroes they had earned favors from almost every family that had stood in our side of the war and some in the other side. A lot of former enemies owed their lives to my parents, who had spared them. I wouldn't be playing the political game that Zeoticus and Lord Phenex were playing anytime soon. I didn't have anything on my name that could be used there and favors could only get me so far. But I did have power behind me even if it was limited.

Ignoring the now frightened Lord and Lady and their stunned children, I wrapped an arm around Rias and whispered softly in her ear.

"Let's go."

"You insolent piece of-" I turned just in time to see three knives point themselves at Riser's eyes and neck.

"I'll politely ask you to leave my King alone." Raev's voice said in a sweet tone that I had never heard from her. It would have sounded pretty nice if not for the situation. I felt Rias grab my clothes tightly and I slowly made my way outside. Soon I heard what was probably everyone else follow behind me.

"You have been warned, Phenex." And with that we teleported back to the Gremory manor.

"That was reckless, Verstand." Zeoticus chided instantly.

"Spare me, Zeo." I said instantly, all my anger showing now that we were by ourselves. "Did you see that joke of a party? And don't even get me started on Riser fucking Phenex."

"Vertand!"

"I swear I'll find a way to kill the Phenex if he pulls a stunt like that ever again!"

"Verstand, calm down." I shut up as Sirzechs words acted just as well as bucked of water would against a campfire. "I know you are angry, little bro. But that was too reckless. You know you can't use those favors. They'll be your trump card once you have to start playing politics."

"I could care less about politics." I said completely serious. "You, the Sitri and Ajuka stood by me and my family since forever. I would throw away those favors, what little territory and gold I have and even my pride to help you in anything you need." I said with a tone of finality facing a group of stunned Gremory.

Silence permeated the room for a few seconds before someone tackled me in a hug. I looked down to see Venelana wrapping her arms around me and squeezing the life out of me. Tears ran down her face as she let go of me only to hold my face and kissing me all over my face.

"You, young man, are a great person." She said softly. "We don't deserve you."

"True, Lana, too true." I said wiping her tears from her face. "You deserve so much more than my piss poor orphan ass." I said bitterly before being slapped.

"You won't say something like that ever again, Verstand Dantalion." And I felt a chill run down my spine as I quickly nodded.

"Thank you for those words, Verstand." Zeoticus said this time. "I'm proud to be able to think of you as my second son." Those words felt just as strong as the time my grandfather had said them to me before dying. I have him my best grateful smile.

"How am I supposed to scold you if you say things like that." Sirzechs said shaking his head. A lonely tear made its way down his cheek. "You are so much like your parents…" He said softly. "Every bit as troublesome and great as they were."

"I try." I said with a sad smile. And just as I thought I was free from Venelana I was tackled once more, this time by a crimson missile named Rias.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." She repeated against my chest as she held onto me for dear life. "I… it was so awful… and then he…" She was trembling like a leaf. I felt the urge to go back to the Phenex house and destroy it until nothing was left.

"Don't worry, Rias." I said patting her back. "There's still that Rating Game clause." I reassured her. "And even if you lose, I'll move hell and earth to help you. Heaven too, if I have to. That's a promise."

"But… But you can't… those favors… you can't…" She tried to say while her voice cracked after a few words every time. I just shushed her with a small smile.

"Your smile as you marry someone you love will be worth everything I own and more. My little sister will be happy even if it kills me." I said confidently. Her eyes widened for a second before a complicated expression took over her face. I had never seen it but once I blinked it disappeared, being replaced with a wide smile.

"You are the best brother, Verz."

"What about me, Ria-tan?" Asked Sirzechs with a mock-hurt tone. Rias just hummed, shaking her head that was once more buried into my chest.

"Verz is the best." I could have sworn a dark cloud formed over the crimson-haired Maou as he started drawing circles on the floor.

**[}-o-{]**

"Verstand be reasonable."

"I've been perfectly reasonable, big bro." I said annoyed. "I've done everything you wanted me to. I've studied, I've trained and I've worked myself to the ground doing so." I pointed out. "But you can't keep me in the Underword forever."

"We could certainly try." Ajuka countered and I raised an eyebrow at him. He shrugged. "We can." He smirked at me and I groaned.

"Verstand. Even if you unlocked your variant of the Dantalion trait, there are a lot of dangers out there that you aren't ready to face yet." Sirzechs said patiently.

"And so, I'll be stuck here for the rest of my life? I have to recruit my peerage, you know?" I said trying to keep my voice as civil as I could.

"We could recruit for you, Ver-tan."

"Absolutely not!" I all but shouted at Serafall. "My peerage will be recruited by me and no one else."

"A little help here and there-"

"No." I interrupted. My voice cold as ice. She deflated and both Sirzechs and Ajuka started rubbing their foreheads.

"Look, Verstand." Ajuka said raising his hands placatingly. "We just want to make sure nothing will happen to you. Just like you did for Rias and Sona by going to Japan." He explained. "Just… just wait a year, will you?" He asked almost desperately. It hurt to see him like that. My resolve was rapidly crumbling as I looked at my sibling's expressions.

"Just a year." I pointed out with narrowed eyes and the three of them sighed in relief.

"Weakling." Raev coughed from the couch she was sitting on next to Koneko.

"Shut up and come with me. We are having a spar." She was instantly on her feet with a wide grin. "Koneko, you are coming too. We are starting with your training." I said making my way to the teleportation circle.

"Finally." "… Ok" Both of them answered.

"And you." I said pointing to my siblings. They looked at me curiously. "I guess I can count on some help with my training, can't I?" I asked with a raised eyebrow and they grinned at me.

"Souji will be pleased with that drive you got there." Sirzechs said giving me a thumbs up.

"Your Magical Guardian training will be great during this time skip, count on it." Serafall gave me a peace sign and a wink.

"I guess I can give you some extra homework to push you a bit harder." I didn't like the mad glint on Ajuka's eyes at all.

My grin widened as the light of the circle surrounded me for a second.

The world would know my name. And they would fear it.

**[} Chapter End {]**

**Hey guys! How's it going?**

I'm SO ashamed of myself. This chapter is complete and utter shit. And I haven't been able to come up with a way to improve it. I feel like such a failure of a writer right now.

I wanted this chapter to be great, instead it's just… I can't even come up with a word to describe how bad this is compared to what I expected to write. It's just so bad.

Anyway, I changed a lot of plans for this story in the past few weeks. I was going to have a couple of chapters of Verstand going around the world recruiting some people for his peerage. But after some changes that I did, his peerage will be formed mainly after canon starts. There's only one addition before canon and it'll be introduced next chapter.

Talking about next chapter, I'll probably make a lot of timeskips during it. If I can manage, the chapter after the next one will start canon. Maybe it sounds a bit rushed, and it feels so for me. But I know that if I try to write an original arc it'll suck. I just know it. Every attempt I have made so far has sucked. So, I may as well not even try.

I really hope this chapter isn't as abysmal as I think it is. If it is, I sincerely apologize for wasting your time.

**See you.**


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